Andrew Scott’s award-winning performance as Garry Essendine in Noël Cowards provocative comedy returns to the big screen, here at Reading Rep Theatre.

Matthew Warchus directs Andrew Scott (Vanya, All of Us Strangers, Fleabag) in Noël Coward’s provocative comedy Present Laughter. As he prepares to embark on an overseas tour, star actor Garry Essendine’s colourful life is in danger of spiralling out of control.

Engulfed by an escalating identity crisis as his many and various relationships compete for his attention, Garry’s few remaining days at home are a chaotic whirlwind of love, sex, panic and soul-searching. Captured live from The Old Vic in London, Present Laughter is a giddy and surprisingly modern reflection on fame, desire and loneliness.

REVIEWS

★★★★★ ‘Andrew Scott’s revelatory performance shows why Noël Coward is hailed a genius’ (Telegraph)

★★★★★ ‘Andrew Scott is wondrous in this revelatory refresh of Noël Coward’s classic comedy’ (Time Out)

★★★★★ ‘The show belongs to Scott’ (Times)

★★★★★ ‘Illuminating and luminously funny’ (WhatsOnStage)