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Present Laughter review – vulgar Coward revival is an orgy of exaggeration

Chichester festival theatre
Played as a broad farce, Sean Foley’s revival starring Rufus Hound ignores Noël Coward’s faultless verbal stylings

Rufus Hound, whose recent roles include Mr Toad and Sancho Panza, has been cast as the debonair, if ageing, matinee idol Garry Essendine in Noël Coward’s imperishable comedy. That says a lot about Sean Foley’s dismal production, which treats this verbally impeccable play as if it were broad farce, complete with bellowed lines, slammed doors and uncontrollable soda-siphons.

You get the idea in the first few seconds when Daphne, who has spent the night in Garry’s apartment, punctuates every sentence with a grating “hee-haw” simply because she is upper-class. Miss Erikson, a Scandinavian housemaid, is likewise played as a grotesque caricature who looks as if she presides over the ministry of silly walks.

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