Present Laughter, at The Huntington Theater

I'd never seen a Noel Coward play before. It was very funny, and very entertaining. Loved the fast comic repartee, Gary's comic self-obsessed preening, and the gentle, humane whipping everybody gets on stage. Drew a big crowd at the Huntington.

It is a bit odd that the main character, Gary Essendine, as played by Victor Garber, postures and expresses himself in a way that I think most theater-goers would regard as the mannerisms of a comic gay character. Yet, in the script, women find him seductive and are enthralled by him. Or rather, they appear to try to seduce him -- what actually happens we aren't sure. What happens in the bedrooms off-stage is ambiguous and remote.

It doesn't make sense. Not that we care. The ambiguity makes the play darker.