“Success took me to her bosom like a maternal boa constrictor”, Noël Coward once quipped. A prolific playwright (over 50 works), composer, librettist, songwriter, letter writer, poet and what is perhaps less known, a painter, Coward’s prodigious output is daunting. He has had innumerable imitators, camp copycats and sundry raiders of his songbook too. Selecting an appropriate balance of material for a 60 minute cabaret is not an easy task. Making it work, without becoming another ham mimic or producing yet another ersatz cabaret of popular covers, is tricky.

Godfrey Johnson, assisted by director Sanjin Muuftic, gets it right in Flirting with Coward. As the title implies, Johnson is not attempting to imitate The Master. Rather, he playfully summons the spirit. With his poignant interpretations and phrasing, and his own arrangements, Johnson creates the distinct impression that each of the Coward songs has a specific personal meaning for him. One hears them all anew, allowing Coward’s lyrics to show off their artful brilliance.

Full of wit and lyricism, the songs range from the 1920s to the 50s, from the celebrated Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Mrs Worthington (“. . .don’t put your daughter on the stage”) and Mad About the Boy, to the satirical Twentieth Century Blues and the mischievous Don’t Lets Be Beastly To the Germans.

The result is a most enjoyable evening at the theatre.