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Andrew Scott plays a promiscuous actor in this bittersweet comedy by Noel Coward, recorded live at the Old Vic in 2019 and beamed to the Beacon cinema in Eastbourne via NT Live; I saw it on 18th July 2024.
Gary Essendine (the name is an anagram of neediness) is preparing to take six plays on tour in Africa. The rising curtain shows Daphne, a starstruck young girl he met at a party last night and who had to stay over because she ‘lost her latch key’. Finally awake, Gary swiftly dumps her. He then has an appointment with Roland Maule, a wannabe playwright whose play Gary rejects, at first politely and then with devastating honesty. Gary may be a narcissistic fame junkie who feeds off the adulation of his fans but he is serious about his art.
But Gary’s producer Morris has fallen in love with Joe, husband of Gary’s financial backer Helen. At the behest of his wife, Liz, who fears that predatory Joe will destroy Gary’s tight-knit support team, Gary persuades Morris to back off. Then, that evening, Joe turns up, having forgotten his latch key, and seduces Gary. Next morning Morris and Helen turn up, looking for Joe. The comedy becomes a farce. But, when all is revealed, people have been wounded, feelings have been terribly hurt. Can the team survive?
Scott was on top form as the histrionic prima donna, overacting his socks off, the rest of the cast provided superb support. I was particularly impressed with the physical comedy of Luke Thallon.
The gender of some of the characters was altered because homosexuality or bisexuality could only be hinted at in Coward’s day and, thankfully, we are living in a more tolerant world.
A hugely entertaining comedy with a thoughtful edge. IMdB rates it 8.7/10. The Guardian, in two minds about the gender swap, offers it 4/5. Time Out gave it 5/5.
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