NOEL AND GERTIE
NOEL AND GERTIE, CDP Productions at Glen St Theatre, 21 May-1 June 2013, then touring NSW, Victoria and to Adelaide. Photos by Nicholas Higgins: Lucy Maunder and James Millar.
On the face of it Noel and Gertie is a simple confection of Coward wit and brilliance - light, bright and delicious. But Noel Coward was so much more than merely witty and brittle and in this new production, directed with finesse and sensitivity by Nancye Hayes, the depth of his "talent to amuse" is revealed - for those not familiar with him, and for those who are - the reminder is a delight.
As well as Hayes, the other ingredients are an exceptional musical director and accompanist in Vincent Colagiuri, and the casting of James Millar and Lucy Maunder as the Meryl Streep of her day. They guarantee that this effervescent souffle of a show is never in the slightest danger of collapse.
Devised in 1983 by Sheridan Morley from the cream of Coward's plays, songs, diaries, letters and telegrams (he would have adored Twitter), Noel and Gertie was an instant and enduring success. It is not only an account of Coward's finest career moments - first West End hit at age 20 - but also a portrait of his great love and favourite showbiz partner, Gertrude Lawrence. It's a well constructed piece and authentic too. Morley's authorised biography of Coward was first published in 1969 and he had access to all the material and personal experience of the man himself.
The show is a cunning weave of the relationship between Lawrence and Coward and his most famous stage works - Private Lives, Bittersweet, Blithe Spirit and Tonight at 8.30 - as well as the film that arose from the latter - Brief Encounter. Some of his more than 300 songs are interwoven for knowingly corny humour (Has Anybody Seen Our Ship? Why Must The Show Go On?) or aching longing and loss (I'll See You Again and Some Day I'll Find You).
With the passing years Coward's popularity and stature has waxed and waned. His comedies are now recognised as classics and have been the mainstay of local and amateur theatres forever. The current revival of interest is a tricky thing however, because - like the ancient Greeks - he is now seen as someone who must be reinvented. Belvoir's recent cack-handed reworking of Private Lives is a case in point. In Noel and Gertie, Hayes' balcony scene from the play - where divorcees Elyot and Amanda meet while on their honeymoons with new spouses - the repartee is scintillating and the underlying lost love is poignant.
It made some in the audience mutter about the possibility of seeing the play for real - and perhaps the others Coward wrote for himself and Lawrence - with Millar and Maunder in the roles. Serendipitous that those mellifluous monikers sound like a 21st century version of Lunt and Fontanne!
The show is touring to regional NSW, Victoria and Adelaide over the next couple of months and audiences are in for a treat. Not only are the performers first-rate - with real and vital chemistry - but also, the set (Graham Maclean) and lighting (Nicholas Higgins) are exceptional in effectiveness and simplicity. Essentially, two semi-circular banquettes are slid side by side to make the Private Lives hotel balcony in Deauville, then to form a loveseat and other spiffy 30s and 40s seating arrangements.
At some point in the hour and 40 minutes that spans several decades Noel dismisses the threat of cinema by saying that people want "flesh and blood - flesh and blood". It's as good a summation of why theatre retains its magic despite 3-D and multi-billion dollar movie budgets. It's also the key to this production - Noel and Gertie, Maunder and Millar are the essence of flesh and blood.
Disclosure: James Millar and the writer are founder members of the We Hate Ibis Society and co-conspirators in many fanciful plots and schemes.
