Noel Coward play 'as relevant today as ever'

IT'S not all 'smoking jackets and cigarette holders' as Toads launch into an eight-night run of Noel Coward's Present Laughter.

The Torquay based society is confident the production 'is as relevant to the modern-day world of celebrity as you can get'.

Set over just a few days in his life, this part-farce, part-situation comedy is full of Coward's witty asides and icy put-downs.

Bombarded by demands from fans, agents, ex-wives, and swooning women, Garry also has to deal with the demands of his own enormous ego.

Garry is administered to by a trio of employees: the spiritualist cook, Miss Erickson (Jean Tolchard), Fred, a kind of butler (David Grant) and his long-suffering secretary Monica (Adele Reynolds).

But even with such support his life is getting more complicated by the minute.

Estranged from, but still friends with, his wife Liz, (Susan Mason) he is continually pestered by female admirers, one of whom, Daphne (Alice Chappell), has just spent the night allegedly in the spare room.

As if that wasn't enough he also has to ward off the dangerously earnest odd-ball playwright Roland Maule (Jolyon Tuck), who is desperate to see Garry about a play he has written, and may also be pursuing him for other reasons.

The play was first performed in 1942 with Noel Coward playing the part of the egotistical Garry.

Martin Austin take of the role in this production under the direction of wife and chairman Stephanie.

A spokesman said: "Don't be put off by pre-conceptions that Noel Coward is all smoking jackets and cigarette holders, though.

"This is a play that is as relevant to the modern-day world of celebrity as you can get. The deliciously irreverent writing sounds as fresh and relevant as ever, with much of the humour coming from the idea of 'theatre' and the pretensions that surround acting and actors."

Present Laughter opens tomorrow and runs until June 27.

For tickets, call the box office 01803 299330 or log on to www.toadstheatre.co.uk