Witty glimpse into Noel's life (From Stroud News and Journal)

Witty glimpse into Noel's life

MALVERN'S Festival Theatre is to show an classic example of Noel Coward at his effete best, with Rik Mayall, perhaps surprisingly, in the lead role.

The play in question, Present Laughter, was written as a vehicle for Coward's own talent, with a lead role thatveers deliciously close to vain autobiography.

Set in the glamorous world of the theatre during the Jazz Age, Present Laughter is a gloriously witty portrait of the life that whirled round Noel Coward in his heyday.

Rik Mayall stars as charismatic charmer Garry Essendine. Flamboyantly vain and devastatingly handsome, Essendine is about to set off on an extended tour of Africa, when he is visited by practically everyone he knows including his ex-wife/manager, lawyer, secretary, butler, business partners, an admiring young playwright and a recent one night stand, all ready for the sort of battle of glittering egos that Coward wrote so well.

Rik Mayall is one of the country's leading comic actors whose West End roles include Simon Gray's Cell Mates and Waiting for Godot.

On television he is famous for roles in the massive cult comedy hits The Young Ones, Blackadder, The Comic Strip, The New Statesman and Bottom. It will be interesting to see how he manages the delicate wit and irony of Noel Coward.

Present Laughter plays in the Festival Theatre, Malvern from Monday, January 27 to Saturday, February 1.