Solidly acted but only sporadically funny, the Lyceum and the Citizens Theatre co-production of Hay Fever is entirely serviceable but all too forgettable. Noel Coward’s 1925 comedy features the selfish, eccentric and theatrical Bliss family, who have each separately invited a guest for the weekend at their Thames-side Berkshire home.
Diary of a theatre addict: Another 10-show week
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HAY FEVER – Duke of York’s Theatre, West End
This is a play I know extremely well. My own production (“one of the best the Nuffield Theatre has housed” – Guardian) formed part of my Theatre Studies degree at Lancaster in 1973, the year Noel Coward died. I have seen every major revival, and some dodgy tours, from the splendid Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray version which first inspired me as a teenager at the Grand Theatre Leeds, to glossy London and Chichester productions with Dame Judi, Maria Aitken, Penelope Keith, Geraldine McEwan and Diana Rigg. And the awful one with Lindsay Duncan strutting about in jodhpurs.
HAY FEVER – Duke of York’s Theatre, West End
Whenever I see this beloved play again, I wish it was my first time. It should be seen in youth – when the dread of embarrassing parents getting emotional is at its height ; and again in middle-age, to empathize with Judith Bliss’ envy of the fresher generation.
Review: Hay Fever (Theatre Royal, Brighton)
My first thoughts on seeing the audience shuffling in to the Theatre Royal Brighton for a Thursday matinee were – ‘if there’s a fire, we’re all toast: most of this lot are old enough to have known Noel Coward personally. Or his dad.’ Thoughts of age are inescapable: apart from anything else, today is leading […]
The post Review: Hay Fever (Theatre Royal, Brighton) appeared first on JohnnyFox.
Review: Hay Fever (Theatre Royal, Brighton)
My first thoughts on seeing the audience shuffling in to the Theatre Royal Brighton for a Thursday matinee were – ‘if there’s a fire, we’re all toast: most of this lot are old enough to have known Noel Coward personally. Or his dad.’ Thoughts of age are inescapable: apart from anything else, today is leading […]
The post Review: Hay Fever (Theatre Royal, Brighton) appeared first on JohnnyFox.