Laughing Matter

It's 1773 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The crowd is getting restless. The leading man's unconscious but the show must go on.

This irreverent version of real-life events tells the story of David Garrick, Dr Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith and a new play called She Stoops to Conquer. Caught between financial pressures and artistic ambition, Garrick must decide if he can risk staging a play that could make or break his career.

A Laughing Matter was produced by Out of Joint and the National Theatre, London. Following its premiere at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, in October 2002, it transferred to the National in November and returned in February 2003.

April De Angelis's plays include Kerry Jackson (National Theatre), My Brilliant Friend (adapted from Elena Ferrante's novels for Rose Theatre, Kingston, and NT), House Party (BBC4 and Headlong Theatre), Gin Craze!, a musical with Lucy Rivers (Royal & Derngate), Extinct (Stratford East), Rune (New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme), The Village (Stratford East), Wild East (Royal Court), A Laughing Matter (Out of Joint/NT/tour), The Warwickshire Testimony (RSC), The Positive Hour (Out of Joint/Hampstead/Old Vic; Sphinx), Headstrong (NT Shell Connections), Playhouse Creatures (Sphinx Theatre Company), Hush (Royal Court), Soft Vengeance (Graeae Theatre Company), The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (adapted from the James Cleland novel), Ironmistress (ReSisters Theatre Company), Wuthering Heights (adapted from Emily Brontë's novel for Birmingham Rep), Jumpy (Royal Court and Duke of York's Theatres), Gastronauts (Royal Court), and After Electra (Theatre Royal, Plymouth). Her work for radio includes Visitants, The Outlander, which won the Writers' Guild Award 1992, Cash Cows for the Woman's Hour serial (all BBC), and adaptations of Jane Austen's Emma, Grace Metalious's Peyton Place and Stratis Myrivilis's Life in the Tomb. For opera: Flight with composer Jonathan Dove (Glyndebourne), and the libretto for Silent Twins (Almeida).