not Coward would have agreed, in the 1940s the transformation of real-life gay relationships into onstage straight ones was essential. The play nevertheless contains many references to Coward's own life. Monica is "unmistakably Lorn Loraine", Coward's long-serving and much-loved secretary. Morris has been seen as Coward's agent and sometime lover Jack Wilson, and Henry as Binkie Beaumont. Liz, played originally by Joyce Carey, is thought to be based partly on the actress herself, who was a member of Coward's inner circle. Critical reception and analysis The notices for the first production were excellent. The Observer commented, "Mr Coward's production is so inventive, and his own performance so adroit in its mockery of the vain, posturing, and yet self-scrutinising and self-amused matinee idol, that Present Laughter is likely to be future mirth for as long as Mr Coward cares to run it." The Manchester Guardian added, "One is tempted to cast discretion to the winds and predict that this will be remembered as the best comedy of its kind and generation ... one of those rare occasions when the critic must claim the privilege of his fellow-playgoers, simply to marvel, admire, and enjoy wholeheartedly." When Coward brought the play back to the Haymarket in 1947, The Times praised it as "a wittily impudent and neatly invented burlesque of a French farce." When it was first seen in the West End without Coward, in 1959, The Times commented, "plays as funny as this are no longer being written in England." In 1993 Ned Sherrin wrote, "Present Laughter is one of Coward's four great comedies of manners, along with Hay Fever, Private Lives and Blithe Spirit. It presents a masterly, exaggerated picture not only of the playwright but of his whole household, his court, his admirers, his lifestyle and his era." Brantley observed in The New York Times in 1995, "Yes, Coward was a terrible snob, and there is a certain smugness about Present Laughter that it's best not to examine too closely", but, "The sneaking wisdom of Present Laughter lies in its suggestion that actorly exaggeration and inner honesty are not mutually exclusive." In 1998 John Peter said that despite its period setting the play was timeless, and commented, "As in all the greatest comedies in the language, those of Shakespeare, Congreve and Wilde, the wit is both in the situations and the language." Reviewing the 2016 revival starring Samuel West, Lyn