In Noel Coward’s play about self-centered, histrionic and mostly attractive theater people, Garry Essendine stands out. That’s because Coward was re-creating himself in “Present Laughter,” the drawing room comedy he wrote in 1939, when the world was falling apart. This handsome, mannered and articulate actor is always on. “I’m watching myself go by,” he tells us. And we watch, too. For “Present Laughter” is high-flown, theater of the exaggerated, with women in 5-inch heels, oceans of brandy, plenty of satin nightwear, smart jibes from everybody, including Essendine’s valet, many, many costume changes, a flash of nudity and, trickiest of all for American actors, upper-class English accents. Nobody’s is all that good, but the actors stick to their melismatic vowels so we in the audience go along. The play opens with little Daphne (Gloria Antonios) swanning about an elegant London drawing room in Essendine’s satin pajamas, waiting for the famous actor to wake up (she appeared at his door the night before, saying she’d lost her latchkey, and Essendine, played expansively by Jonathan Jacobson, lets her in, and lets her have her way with him, presumably). Essendine is surrounded by people who want something of him: time, attention, better behavior, sex. And when he’s had enough of their demands he threatens Liz, his wife (they have not lived together for years, but just “never got ’round” to divorce), his business partners and his secretary, gloriously played by Janice Connor, with his preposterous plan to run off with a production of “Peer Gynt,” a five-act, 19th-century play in verse by Henrik Ibsen. As with all neatly constructed comedies, the multitude of complications — Roland (Chris Bolster), the young playwright with a crush on Essendine who wants this drawing room comedy figure to “take a shot at something deeper,” Daphne, of course, and a business partner’s wife, the “predatory” Joanna (LuAnn Leonard) who also loses her latchkey with the same result — collide in a splendid second act. Someone asks at this point if they are not engaged in French farce, which they seem to be, right up to the last giddy minute. The play is a pleasure, and the actors are entertaining, Jacobson as Essendine and Robyn Maitland as Liz in particular. And this is an interesting departure for TheatreWorks New Milford, with its history of wry and subversive holiday plays. Perhaps a play about cunning, beautiful theater people with English accents, slamming doors, employing telephone codes, telling small lies, resorting to blackmail and indulging in various improprieties with no mention at all of the holidays is the most subversive move of all. “Present Laughter” plays at TheatreWorks New Milford through Jan. 7. For tickets: 860-350-6863 or www.theatreworks.us.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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