Pre-Show Questions and Activities
1. What topics are of interest to Noël Coward as a playwright?
Watch a short clip of a Noël Coward (1899-1973) play such as The Vortex,
Private Lives, Hay Fever, Blithe Spirit, and/or This Happy Breed on YouTube to
learn about the theme(s) that interested Noël Coward.
2. Read the following quote from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, mentioned in the
introduction to Act One of Present Laughter. What might this play be about? What does
the title Present Laughter mean?
What is love? ‘tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then come and kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.
-Clown’s song, “Twelfth Night”
3. England was at war (World War II) when Present Laughter was first written and
performed. Do you think the title of the play was to create levity to an otherwise dire
situation of bombings, hunger and uncertainty? Why?
4. Did you ever want to take a trip very far from home, like Africa? Why did you want to go
and what did that trip represent to you?
5. Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt is mentioned twice in Present Laughter. What is the Ibsen
play about?
6. Define the responsibilities and relationships of the following figures in theater:
Producer, Manager, Playwright, Director, Actors
7. Listen to the song “Mad About the Boy,” written by Noël Coward. After hearing the
song, how do you think it might apply to this play?
During the performance of Present Laughter, teachers and students should be
watching and listening for three critical theatrical aspects of the play:
1. How characters are portrayed through movement and vocal expression on stage.
2. The pace of the action in the play told through dialogue and large and small interpersonal
crises.
3. Is there a psychological or political message as a subtext to the play?