The Stage

Noel and Gertie

Published Monday 3 October 2011 at 10:08 by Paul Vale

Sheridan Morley’s entertainment, crafted around the professional and personal relationship between Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, has had several outings over the years, with varying degrees of success. The main element to the success of this piece is the heavy inclusion of some of Coward’s best loved work, including scenes from Private Lives, Blithe Spirit and Still Life, perhaps better known by its movie adaptation Brief Encounter. Add to this a smattering of Coward’s popular songs and Morley’s gift for intimate biographical detail and the entertainment is complete.

Ben Stock (Noel Coward) and Helena Blackman (Gertrude Lawrence) in Noel and Gertie at the Cockpit Theatre, London Photo: Tristram Kenton

The other vital element is casting and director Thom Southerland has chosen two delightfully fresh actors with Helena Blackman as an achingly chic, wryly cynical Lawrence and Ben Stock as a sparkling, charming Coward. Blackman inhabits the 30s remarkably well with her languid eyes, sylph-like figure and impeccably clipped consonants. This proves to be more than simply affectation however as Blackman shows flashes of a very real, vulnerable Lawrence through the haze of cigarette smoke.

Stock, however, has the unenviable task of bringing Coward to life to an audience for whom The Master isn’t simply The Doctor’s nemesis. Coward’s brilliance touched several generations and his work still echoes in plays, musicals and comedies to this day. Stock is genial and affectionate, but lacks the disciplined perfection Coward expected of everyone including himself.

Performed on the Cockpit’s thrust stage, the actors occasionally struggle to encompass their audience in some of the more intimate moments, but ultimately Southerland’s direction maintains a lively sophistication. Still Life is an exceptionally delicate scene that compliments both the performers and director while reminding the audience that Coward’s talent wasn’t simply to amuse but to hold a mirror up to the frailty of the human condition.