Tracy-Ann Oberman is taking on one of Noël Coward’s most celebrated roles – but with a bold twist. She tells Melissa Blease why transforming Garry Essendine into Geri is about much more than simply swapping genders… Pictured: Tracy-Ann Oberman, Photography courtesy of Faye Thomas
Garry Essendine is a super-rich A-list matinee idol in the midst of a mid-life crisis. He excels at throwing tantrums, loves being adored and makes big demands, in all manner of ways, on those around him. But despite all his faults, he’s a charismatic celebrity that few of us can fail to be fascinated by; think, Elton John meets Rudolph Valentino by way of Mariah Carey and you “get” Garry. However…
Garry Essendine isn’t an actual, real-life person, but one of British playwright Noël Coward’s most enthralling, memorable characters who causes mayhem at the epicentre of his 1939 comedy Present Laughter, which in itself remains to be one of the playwright’s most celebrated, frequently-revived works. In Coward’s own words, “[Garry Essendine was] written with the sensible object of providing me with a bravura part” – indeed, Coward starred as Garry during the play’s original UK run and reprised the role in the US and Paris.
Nearly 90 years later, one can’t help but wonder what Coward would make, then, of Garry/Present Laughter’s latest reincarnation, directed by Lindsay Posner and starring (and adapted by) Tracy-Ann Oberman: the first actor to portray the role of Garry Essendine as a woman.
“The idea came to me when I was writing a play about Mae West – a woman who wrote, produced and cast all her own work, had lots of relationships with all her leading men, and was the most powerful woman in Hollywood,” says Tracy-Ann, talking to me in advance of the play’s premiere at Theatre Royal Bath this month.
The experiment is to see whether you can reframe the original work without damaging it, but instead opening it up.”
“I was looking at Liza Minelli, and the wonderful Joan Crawford – those fabulous divas! And I started to think, could Garry be turned into Geri: a badly-behaved, middle-aged actress? And what would happen if Geri’s long-suffering secretary wasn’t Monica but Monty, the slightly acidic gay secretary, and Garry’s slightly acidic ex-wife becomes Len, the ex-husband? But when you do a gender-flip, there has to be a real reason for doing it, beyond just novelty. For a start, it’s vital to honour the original text; if you change the meaning of the play and the wonderful words, it can really damage the original work. The experiment is to see whether you can reframe that original work in a way that doesn’t damage the play, but opens it up.”
Tracy-Ann is no stranger to the art of how the theatrical gender-reverse can open up a whole new universe that adds further context to a long-established cosmos. In 2023, she totally reimagined Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, facing the controversies and baggage that come with the Bard’s most infamous play with a ground-breaking interpretation starring Oberman as the first ever female Shylock, set against a backdrop that swapped 16th century Italy for 1930s Britain and framing the conflict around the real-life Battle of Cable Street and the rise of British fascism, recontextualising power and deconstructing long-established tropes throughout.
“The Merchant of Venice 1936 became a very personal project for me, because I based Shylock on my great grandmother who was an immigrant to the East End, and stood against Oswald Moseley in the battle of Cable Street,” says Tracy-Ann. “I ended up so proud of a piece of theatre that started off as a little idea and turned into a massive movement that went to the West End twice and toured the country twice too; it was really incredible.”
Yes, it was – and it led to Tracy-Ann being awarded an MBE for her services to Holocaust Education and combatting antisemitism.
It’s difficult to move on from discussing The Merchant of Venice 1936 without coming across as fickle and flighty as one of the many fickle, flighty supporting cast members that pop up, down, in and out across Coward’s canon of British theatrical masterpieces. But my interview with Tracy-Ann today is, of course, focusing on the present – and the gift that Present Laughter is set to present to audiences across the country.
“It was very hard to get the Noël Coward estate to allow me to do this, and I’m very grateful to Alan Brodie who gave me permission to run with the idea,” says Tracy-Ann. “But I think even Noël Coward purists will love this production because it doesn’t change the play at all – the text hasn’t been altered, so the master’s wonderful words are still wholly intact; we’re just offering a slightly different prism to view the play through and maybe sort of open it up a bit. We’ve taken the drama out of its 1939 setting and set it in 1977, at New York’s legendary nightclub Studio 54 – there are a lot of similarities to Noël Coward’s original setting above the Savoy! Just like Garry’s clique, Geri’s VIP crowd are all very inward-looking and there’s a lot of sexual fluidity just like there was around Coward’s time, even though it was never explicit and generally coded. Garry, meanwhile, was a complicated, difficult, hugely egotistical, morally questionable diva, but also fiercely loyal; Coward wrote him to be complicated and multi-faceted, and I look forward to seeing if audiences will allow a female in that role. I believe they will; I’m genuinely so excited!”
No doubt fans of Tracy-Ann Oberman will be excited too – and her fans are legion, for multiple reasons. Back in 2005, in the role of Chrissie Watts, Tracy-Ann killed villainous EastEnders rogue Dirty Den. In 2006, she gripped Doctor Who fans in the role of ruthless Yvonne Hartman, Director of Torchwood. She was the chaos-causing, no-filter Aunty Val In much-loved Channel 4 sit-com Friday Night Dinner; she’s on the illustrious roll-call of Royal Shakespeare Company alumni; she’s aced both Celebrity MasterMind and Celebrity MasterChef; she’s a magazine columnist, a broadsheet journalist and a playwright.
If Tracy-Ann had to define herself with just one aspect of all that she does, what would it be?
“Ooh, I don’t know!”, she laughs. “I think everything that I’ve done has led me to the confidence of being able to do what I do now: create theatre that I would like to see and I hope other people will enjoy as well.
Present Laughter is a super-glamorous uplift. It’s really funny, really witty, really human and sexy and exciting too – I honestly don’t think it’ll upset
Noël Coward lovers in any way”
Everything has all sort of meshed together! I’m also a mummy, a wife and a daughter. But I’ve got one of those over-active brains, always working and moving and sort of constantly recreating ‘stuff’. I get really excited by things I’ve read or seen that interest me. I regularly go down wormholes and always have, even as a child – the internet was incredible for me!”
Perhaps her time in Bath this summer might allow Tracy-Ann a little time to – well, relax? “I really, really love Bath – it’s a gorgeous city, just wonderful; I’ve been here so many times that it’s a second home for me,” she says. “I always make time for the Thermae Bath Spa, and I’m a bit of a Jane Austen nut as well so I always try to visit the Pump Room for afternoon tea. I love all the little independent shops and The Holburne Museum, and I’ll be in the city for my birthday so I’ve got a whole load of friends coming to see the play and we’ll go somewhere for a birthday lunch – we’ve certainly got a lot of great choices for places to go!”
Meanwhile, many people will be making the choice to make their own foray to Bath specifically to see Tracy-Ann in Present Laughter, as they did when she was here with The Merchant of Venice 1936 last year.
“The Merchant of Venice 1936 was a very meaningful, challenging piece of political work,” says Tracy-Ann.
“We’re living in dark times yet again, but Present Laughter is a super-glamorous uplift. It’s really funny, really witty and really human, and sexy and exciting too – I honestly don’t think it’ll upset people who love Noël Coward in any way!”
As Coward himself said, on theatre: “Consider the audience. Treat it with tact and courtesy; it will accept much from you if you are clever enough to win it to your side. Coax it, charm it, interest it, stimulate it, shock it now and then if you must, make it laugh, make it cry and make it think, but above all…never, never, never bore the living hell out of it.”
Exciting stuff? Tracy-Ann Oberman/Geri Essendine: bring it on!
Present Laughter. Theatre Royal Bath,
Thursday 27 August – Saturday 5 September.
For tickets and details see: theatreroyal.org.uk