Two of the many people nostalgic England holds dear in entertainment are Felicity Kendal and Noel Coward. Thanks to Peter Hall’s revival of Noel Coward’s The Vortex, you can get your fix of the very different Coward and Kendal in one spot.
Noel Coward needs no introduction, and Kendal only needs a tiny one, to make sure you don’t remember her only for The Good Life.
It’s not the first time the two have been paired. Kendal also acted in Coward’s Fallen Angels in 2000.
In addition to the long TV career which has made her one of England’s favourite faces, in the 1980s and 1990s Kendal starred in several plays, many by Tom Stoppard. If you can believe what you read on Wikipedia, Kendal made her stage debut at the age of 9 months and her father was an actor/manager who led repertory companies through India.
So it’s no wonder she looks comfortable treading the boards at the Apollo as the narcissistic Florence Lancaster in this portrait of fashionable society life, and there’s not a trace of The Good Life to be seen.
Kendal’s own heyday in the 1970s and 1980s defined her – an era where she was voted ‘rear of the year’ by the adoring public, and then voted one of FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World in 1995. She is certainly one of UK TV’s darlings, but The Vortex shows her acting is still in full bloom. The closeness in theme, between the play’s depiction of the beautiful aging heroine, and her own reality, is perhaps not lost on Kendal. Following a hugely emotional third act, she was visibly trying to shake the character from her during the curtain call – the tears were completely real.
While Kendal is a strong Florence, her counterpart on stage is an equally compelling Dan Stevens as her drug addicted son Nicky. Bearing in mind Coward wrote this play in 1924, the themes are surprisingly daring and still resonant today.
But the real star, not just in the curtain call, but of the whole production, was Kendal.
Her acting far surpassed Coward’s script. While the first act was promising and intriguing, and the second act added a smattering of suspense and begged us to continue watching, sadly the third act veered us off course, into intense emotional territory with an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. It felt like a lazy scriptwriter had been neglecting his work.
That said, all two hours and even two intervals were enjoyable, and seeing Kendal on the stage is even more delightful, and engaging than watching her on TV.
The Vortex runs until 7 June 2008 at the Apollo Theatre, London.
