For audiences who didn’t get their fill of Noël Coward with the recent Ross Valley Players production of Blithe Spirit, the Novato Theater Company is offering a second helping of Coward comedy with their production of Present Laughter. The show runs in Novato through Feb. 16.
But Coward purists beware. Audiences expecting a traditional production of the 1940’s three-act farce may be taken aback as director Carl Jordan leans into a revival version mounted in 2019 that made significant changes to some of the characters.
While the core of Coward is still there (even with the original three acts reduced to two), Jordan moves the period piece into the present day, adds bits of awkward choreography, and utilizes a modern soundtrack to highlight moments or cover scene changes. (I could have done without hearing Toto’s “Africa” in a Noël Coward show.)
Most jarringly, the revival version converted—for lack of a better word—some of the various conflict-creating heterosexual couplings that go on in the show to same-sex ones. What in Coward’s original was a wife cheating on her husband becomes a husband cheating on his wife… with a man.
That man would be actor Garry Essendine (David Abrams), England’s leading stage star, who is facing down middle age while looking up to an African tour. The tour can’t begin soon enough, as Garry finds himself having to deal with a one-night stand (Tina Traboulsi), a very strange aspiring playwright (Thomas Petersen), his philandering manager (Kevin Allen), his producer (Ashey Kennedy) and her philandering husband (Nic Moore).
This is all under the watchful and somewhat amused eyes of his estranged wife (Kathryn Schott), his housekeeper (Shirley Nilsen Hall), his valet (Jamie Montellato) and his put-upon secretary (Heather Shepardson).
Abrams gives a full-throated performance as the vainglorious Garry. The character is clearly written as an old-school matinee idol, which is why it seems so out of place in the present day.
The beautiful art deco set design by Electric Bill Weinberg and lighting by Frank Sarubbi also harken back to the show’s original period, and script specifics often play anachronistically. Who travels by steerage these days?
There’s a lot of good work done by the show’s talented ensemble, but they’re all battling against a director’s flawed vision.
Bottom line: Even with the changes in characters’ orientations, this Present would play better in the past.
‘Present Laughter’ runs through Feb. 16 at the Novato Theater Company, 5420 Nave Dr., Ste. C, Novato. Fri & Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm., $25–$35. 415.883.4498. novatotheatercompany.org.