Present Laughter

Present Laughter is a comical farce written by Noel Coward in 1939 and first staged on tour in 1942. The play’s title comes from a song in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which urges to seize the day – “present mirth hath present laughter”.
The play follows a few days in the life of the successful, yet self-obsessed, comedy actor Garry Essendine (a character Noel Coward based on himself) as he prepares for a performance tour in Africa. In the midst of a series of farcical events that occur during the play Garry has to deal with women who are obsessed with him, his long-suffering secretary and his estranged wife, cope with a crazed young playwright and overcome his impending mid-life crisis.

CAST
DAPHNIE STILLINGTON     Amanda Payne
MISS ERIKSON     Sheila Shaffer
FRED     Jean Rice
MONICA REED     Pia Shepherd
GARRY ESSENDINE     Mark Johnson
LIZ ESSENDINE     Sue Meyers
ROLAND MAULE     Richard Bowman
MORRIS DIXON     Slab Slabinski
HUGO LYPPIATT     Winston Laszlo
JOANNA LYPPIATT     Jenni Tronier