Winsomely delivered by a beautifully balanced cast, this Hay Fever finds fresh life in Coward’s comic rhythms
Noël Coward’s family of attention-seeking creatives turns a few house guests into unwilling participants in its private drama, and Emily Burns’s hugely entertaining production makes the resulting chaos a pleasure to watch.
The setup is straightforward. Retired actress Judith Bliss invites a young admirer to the family’s country home. Her novelist husband David and their children, Simon and Sorel, have also invited someone, without bothering to consult each other. Four guests arrive expecting a pleasant weekend. Their hosts have rather different ideas about what counts as pleasant.
Judith may have stopped working in the theatre, but she has certainly not stopped performing. Neither has the rest of the family. A flirtation becomes a great romance; an awkward conversation becomes a betrayal. Their emotions are less about what they feel than how effectively they can present it. The guests keep taking them seriously, which is their first mistake.
Christine Baranski makes Judith wonderfully saucy, switching between flirtation, injured innocence and commanding disapproval with obvious relish. She treats attention as something that should naturally come her way. However, beneath her confidence sits a more human concern: who is she when she is no longer the person everyone has come to see?
Richard E. Grant’s David combines extravagance with a beautifully funny sense of his own importance. He seems entirely comfortable expecting other people to be fascinated by him. Together, Grant and Baranski create a convincing marriage between two people who share a home but would ideally prefer separate audiences.
Their chemistry is a major part of the production’s appeal, but the pleasure extends across the cast. This feels like a company enjoying the same joke and knowing exactly how to pass it around. Baranski and Grant bring years of experience and a confidence that allows them to play freely; the younger actors bring the energy and quick reactions that keep the script moving. Neither group overshadows the other. The humour comes from the exchange between them.
Ophelia Lovibond gives Sorel charm and a welcome flicker of self-awareness. She can see how ridiculous her family is, although behaving differently proves harder than recognising the problem. Will Close’s Simon is full of restless enthusiasm, taking his art and his romantic interests equally seriously, at least until something else catches his attention.
Charles Edwards is particularly funny as the diplomat Richard Greatham. Increasingly confused and perplexed, he keeps trying to respond politely to situations that make very little sense. His facial expressions are extremely funny and sometimes a look does more than a whole speech could. His scenes with Baranski work especially well, as Judith’s appetite for drama meets a man desperately trying to understand the rules.
Nancy Carroll’s assured Myra Arundel, Ash Hunter’s earnest Sandy Tyrell and Lucy Karczewski’s uncomfortable Jackie Coryton give the guests distinct personalities. Jo McInnes’s Clara brings a welcome practical presence to a household where practicality is clearly nobody else’s priority.
Frankie Bradshaw’s set is another highlight. The attention to detail makes the house feel lived in while giving it the polish of somewhere its owners would happily show off. It suits a family whose surroundings are part of their performance. The costumes are equally well judged, giving each character a clear identity without distracting from the comedy.
This is a warm, lively production with excellent ensemble chemistry. Coward understood that families develop their own strange rules. The Blisses just expect everyone else to learn their lines.