Present Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939, but not produced until 1942, because the Second World War began while it was in rehearsal, and the West End theatres closed. The title is drawn from a song in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night that urges carpe diem ("present mirth hath present laughter"). The play has been frequently revived in Britain, the US and beyond.
The plot depicts a few days in the life of the successful and self-obsessed light comedy actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce, Garry has to deal with women who want to seduce him, placate both his long-suffering secretary and his wife, cope with a crazed young playwright, and overcome his impending mid-life crisis (he has recently turned forty). The character is a caricature of the author's real-life persona, as Coward acknowledged.
Coward starred as Garry during the original run, which began with a long provincial tour to accommodate wartime audiences. He reprised the role in the first British revival and later in the United States and Paris. Subsequent productions have featured Albert Finney, Peter O'Toole, Donald Sinden, Ian McKellen, Simon Callow and Andrew Scott, and in the United States Clifton Webb, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., George C. Scott, Frank Langella and Kevin Kline.
Background In April and May 1939 Noël Coward wrote two contrasting comedies, both with titles drawn from Shakespeare. One, This Happy Breed, was set in a modest suburban household; the other, originally titled Sweet Sorrow, later Present Laughter, depicted the affairs of a star actor. The title "Present Laughter" is drawn from the song "O Mistress Mine" in Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 3, which urges carpe diem ("present mirth hath present laughter"). The plot of Present Laughter had been forming in Coward's mind over the previous three years, but he recalled in his memoirs that once he began writing it, the play was completed in six days.Coward (1954), p. 212 He described it as "a very light comedy ... written with the sensible object of providing me with a bravura part".Coward (1979), unnumbered introductory page He planned to appear in both the new plays in the autumn of 1939, and they were in rehearsal for a pre-London tour when the Second World War began on 2 September; all theatres were closed by government order, and the production was shelved.Coward (1954), p. 15; and Mander and Mitchenson, p. 353
Between the outbreak of war and 1942 Coward worked for the British government, first in its Paris propaganda office and then for the secret service.Hoare, Philip. "Coward, Sir Noël Peirce (1899–1973), playwright and composer", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2019 In 1942 the prime minister, Winston Churchill, told Coward that he would do more good for the war effort by entertaining the troops and the home front: "Go and sing to them when the guns are firing – that's your job!"Morley (1974), p. 246 Though disappointed, Coward followed this advice. He toured, acted and sang indefatigably in Europe, Africa and Asia.Morley (2005), pp. 76–77
Original production Present Laughter was first staged at the beginning of a 25-week tour of Britain by Coward and his cast. His producer, Binkie Beaumont, was opposed to so long a provincial tour, and wanted to open at the Haymarket Theatre in London. Coward countered that in wartime conditions, "the provinces can't come to the West End any more, therefore the West End must go to the provinces".Farley, p. 14 Present Laughter was first produced in Blackpool on 20 September 1942;Mander and Mitchenson, p. 345 Coward directed, and the sets and costumes were designed by Gladys Calthrop.Mander and Mitchenson, p. 347 The repertory of the tour also consisted of This Happy Breed and Blithe Spirit; the three were advertised collectively as "Noel Coward in his Play Parade"."Opera House", The Manchester Guardian, 15 October 1942, p 1 After playing in twenty-two towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales, the tour ended with a six-week run at the Haymarket.Mander and Mitchenson, pp. 345–346
Original cast Daphne Stillington – Jennifer Gray Miss Erikson – Molly Johnson Fred – Billy Thatcher Monica Reed – Beryl Measor Garry Essendine – Noël Coward Liz Essendine – Joyce Carey Roland Maule – James Donald Henry Lyppiatt – Gerald Case Morris Dixon – Dennis Price Joanna Lyppiatt – Judy Campbell Lady Saltburn – Gwen Floyd
Plot All three acts of the play are set in Garry Essendine's London flat. He is a successful West End actor, who has just turned forty.Coward (1979), pp. 157, 160 and 243–244
Act I Daphne Stillington, a young admirer of the actor Garry Essendine, has inveigled herself into the flat and has spent the night there. Garry is still asleep, and while waiting for him to wake, Daphne encounters in turn three of his employees: the housekeeper (Miss Erikson), valet (Fred), and secretary (Monica). None of them display any surprise at her presence. Garry finally wakes and with practised smoothness ushers Daphne out.
Liz Essendine, who left Garry years ago, nevertheless remains part of his tightly-knit 'family' along with Monica and his manager, Morris Dixon, and producer, Henry Lyppiatt. Liz tells Garry that she suspects that Morris is having an affair with Henry's glamorous wife Joanna, and is concerned that this might break up the family. Their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Roland Maule, an aspiring young playwright from Uckfield, whose play Garry has rashly agreed to critique. Liz leaves, and Roland rapidly becomes obsessively fascinated by Garry, who gets him off the premises as quickly as he can.
Morris and Henry arrive and discuss theatrical business with Garry. Henry leaves for a business trip abroad, and Garry privately interrogates Morris, who denies that he is having an affair with Joanna. Garry telephones Liz to reassure her.
Act II Scene 1, midnight, three days later. Garry, alone in the flat, answers the doorbell to find Joanna. She claims (like Daphne in Act I) to have forgotten her own door key and asks Garry to accommodate her in his spare room. He correctly suspects her motives, but after much skirmishing allows himself to be seduced.
Scene 2, the next morning. Joanna emerges from the spare room wearing Garry's pyjamas just as Daphne did in Act I. She too encounters Miss Erikson, Fred, and then Monica, who is horrified at her presence in such compromising circumstances. Liz arrives and puts pressure on Joanna by threatening to tell Morris that Joanna has spent the night with Garry. Joanna retreats to the spare room when the doorbell rings, but the caller is not Morris but Roland Maule, who says he has an appointment with Garry. Monica leads him to an adjacent room to wait for Garry.
Frantic comings and goings follow, with the flustered arrivals and departures of Morris and Henry, Roland's pursuit of Garry, and the arrival of a Lady Saltburn, to whose niece Garry has promised an audition. The niece turns out to be Daphne Stillington, who recites the same Percy Bysshe Shelley poem, "We Meet Not as We Parted", with which he bade her farewell in Act I. Joanna flounces out from the spare room, Daphne faints with horror, Roland is entranced, and Garry is apoplectic.
Act III A week later, on the eve of Garry's departure on tour in Africa, he is once more alone in the flat. The doorbell rings and Daphne enters saying she has a ticket to sail with him to Africa. The doorbell rings again, and Daphne retreats to an adjoining room. The new caller is Roland, who announces that he too has a ticket for the voyage to Africa. Garry tries to get him to leave, but as the doorbell rings a third time Roland bolts into the spare room and locks the door. The third caller is Joanna, who has also bought a ticket for the Africa voyage and has written a letter to Henry and Morris telling them everything. Liz arrives and saves the tottering situation, announcing that she too is travelling to Africa.
Henry and Morris arrive and berate Garry for his night with Joanna. Garry fights back by revealing the details of Morris and Joanna's affair, and Henry's extramarital adventures. Joanna angrily slaps Garry's face and leaves for good. Her departure goes unnoticed because Garry, Henry and Morris have become embroiled in what for them is a much more serious row when it emerges that Henry and Morris have committed Garry to appear at what he considers a shockingly unsuitable theatre. Garry objects: "I will not play a light French comedy to an auditorium that looks like a Gothic edition of Wembley Stadium."Coward (1979), p. 245 When that row has blown itself out, it is business as usual and Henry and Morris leave in good humour.
Liz pours Garry a brandy and tells him she is not only going to Africa with him but is coming back to him for good. Garry suddenly remembers Daphne and Roland lurking in the adjoining rooms and tells Liz: "You're not coming back to me... I'm coming back to you",Coward (1979), p. 246 and they tiptoe out.
Revivals The play has been regularly revived. Coward directed and starred in the first West End revival, in 1947. It ran for 528 performances; Carey once again played Liz, Moira Lister played Joanna, and Robert Eddison played Roland."Haymarket Theatre", The Times, 17 April 1947, p. 6 Coward handed on the lead role to Hugh Sinclair in July 1947.Mander and Mitchenson, p. 346 The first West End revival after that was in 1965, with Nigel Patrick as Garry.
Notable successors in the role of Garry include Albert Finney (1977), Peter O'Toole (1978), who also played the role in a production at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., in the same year,Coe, Richard L. "Merry 'Laughter'", The Washington Post, 16 November 1978 Donald Sinden (1981), Tom Conti (1993), Peter Bowles (1996), Ian McKellen (1998), Rik Mayall (2003), and Simon Callow (2006). The National Theatre revived the play in 2007 and 2008 with Alex Jennings as Garry. More recent Garrys have included Samuel West (Theatre Royal, Bath, 2016),Gardner, Lyn. "Present Laughter review", The Guardian, 30 June 2016 Rufus Hound (Chichester Festival Theatre, 2018),Billington, Michael. "Present Laughter review", The Guardian, 27 April 2018 and Andrew Scott (Old Vic, 2019).
Present Laughter was first staged in the US in 1946; after an out-of-town tour it opened on 29 October 1946 at the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway. It featured Clifton Webb as Garry and closed in March 1947 after 158 performances.Mander and Mitchenson, p. 354 In 1958 Coward appeared in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles as Garry with Eva Gabor as Joanna.Lesley, pp. 177–78 American successors in the role of Garry Essendine have included Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1975), George C. Scott (1982), Frank Langella (1996), Victor Garber (2010), and Kevin Kline (2017).
Adaptations Stage Coward directed and starred in a French translation, Joyeux Chagrins, with the central character renamed Max Aramont. The production toured, beginning in Brussels, before opening at the Théâtre Édouard VII in Paris in 1948.Mander and Mitchenson, p. 353; and Hoare, p. 379 In September 1996 a new French adaptation, titled Bagatelle was presented at the Théâtre de Paris, starring Michel Sardou in the lead role, now named Jean Delecour.
In 2026 Tracy-Ann Oberman plays Garry as a woman, Geri Essendine, in her own adaptation. Authorised by the Noel Coward Estate, the adaptation includes other sex-changed characters and is set in New York in 1977 at the heyday of Studio 54.Holland, Michael. "When Garry Became Geri", SouthLondon, 11 July 2026 Lindsay Posner directed, with designs by Peter McKintosh, and the production opened at the Theatre Royal, Bath, on 27 August 2026 before a UK tour set to run to November, with James Dreyfus as Monty and Adrian Lukis as Len.
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