Review: PRESENT LAUGHTER, starring Tracy-Ann Oberman, Theatre Royal Bath
Tracy-Ann Oberman is an arrogant ageing actress in a new gender-swapped version of Noël Coward's comedy
Gender swapping's all the rage these days. Sandra Oh recently appeared at The National Theatre as Alice, an interesting replacement for Molière's leading man Alceste in The Misanthrope. Katherine and Bianca were played by men and Petruchio and Gremio by women in the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Taming of the Shrew. And now a sassy Tracy-Ann Oberman (known for killing Dirty Den in Eastenders, Dr Who, Friday Night Dinner, a stint with the RSC and more) stars as egotistical actress Geri Essendine in Noël Coward's Present Laughter at Theatre Royal Bath before touring.
Oberman grabs the role by the balls, supplanting original main character Gary – first portrayed by Coward back in 1942, who based the part on himself – with a Farrah Fawcett-tressed British bombshell actress seeking fame in New York in the 1970s. It's a clever idea setting the action during the Sexual Revolution when women enjoyed more freedom – but at what cost?
Photo credit: Simon Annand
This isn't Oberman's first gender swap rodeo. Two years ago, she was described as "electrifying" in the role of Shylock in the RSC's The Merchant of Venice 1936. Time travel and gender switching obviously suits Oberman, who has a knack for bringing a whole new meaning to a well- worn part in a different timeframe.
Photo credit: Simon Annand
Frankly, her sequin jump-suited Geri claiming to be "39 for the best part of a decade" and with an appetite for dancing the night away at Studio 54 with younger lovers, can be a pain in the ass. She's used to being adored and constantly feels sorry for herself in her glamorous monochrome apartment in the Big Apple.
There's great design here from Peter McKintosh. As well as providing the industrial loft setting, he also bedecks the actors in outrageous period hot pink pyjamas, wafty dressing gowns and cool snakeskin boots. These contrast with buttoned-up suits and ties from the British contingent accompanying Geri to help her make her fortune in the US. I'd like to see this Warhol-esque world of the late 70s zhuzhed up even more.
And there's a lot to laugh at in this farce involving Geri's wanna-be lovers, annoying hangers-on, estranged husband, loyal but fed-up secretary and fanatical playwright all making demands on her before she tours Australia (altered from South Africa in Coward's script). "Where would they all be without me?" Geri asks.
Photo credit: Simon Annand
Channelling her inner Joan Collins, Oberman delivers her lines in a gorgeous gravelly voice, but it's the supporting cast that gets all the laughs. James Dreyfuss has superb comic timing as her long-suffering secretary Monty. When informed that a young man (David Stillington, terrifically played by Seb Carrington) that Geri met in a nightclub lost his key, so had to spend the night in her apartment, Monty dryly replies that "they often do".
Photo credit: Simon Annand
Gabriella Foley's eccentric Swedish housekeeper Miss Erikson, with a side hustle in spiritualism and an inability to answer the door, also gets approval from the audience. As does a reliable Adrian Lukis as Len, Geri's nearly ex-husband still involved with her business affairs.
Photo credit: Simon Annand
The jury's out on Eva Feiler's Rosina Maule though, as the obsessed playwright. Her performance is wildly OTT and wouldn't look out of place in a panto – to the degree that it feels like she's in a completely different play. And I'm not all that convinced by supposed stud Johannes (Kit Young), who everyone fancies – but why?
Overall, Lindsay Posner's direction is proficient, making the best of a rather bonkers play with a lot of dialogue and not a great deal of action. And yet, I want to care more about Geri, particularly in the second act when she's patently lonely and desperately needs company, despite insisting she wants to be alone. This whole strand of celebrity sadness, hugely relevant today in a world dominated by social media and a disconnection from reality, could be fleshed out more.
Determining when Geri is acting and not acting (and whether she herself knows the difference) is a rich seam to explore, especially when the sell-by-date for an actress is typically way shorter than for her male counterpart. And gender-swapping gives actresses like Oberman a chance to play meatier roles originally intended for men – and it gives audiences a new way to examine them.
Present Laughter runs at Theatre Royal Bath until 5 September and then tours until 28 November.
Photo credits: Simon Annand
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