United Kingdom Noël Coward’s Hay Fever: Wyndham’s Theatre, London, 2.10.2026. (BF) ****
It is the 1920s. Judith Bliss is an actress recently retired to the country with her eccentric novelist husband and two self-absorbed adult children. She is bored and misses the applause and the attention, so she invites a young admirer down for the weekend. Meanwhile, each family member, unknown to the others, has also invited a guest for the same weekend. Then, as they are all self-centred and narcissistic, they alternately ignore and embarrass the guests, justifying it to themselves as having ‘spent our lives cultivating the Arts and not devoting any time to ordinary conventions and manners and things’.
It becomes clear that the whole family is acting all the time: at various points they even drop without warning into a performance of scenes from melodramas Judith has played in, such as (the imaginary) ‘Love’s Whirlwind’, the children playing up to their mother, the consternation of their guests part of their pleasure.
The play is an ensemble piece, requiring both exaggerated effects and perfect timing to make simple lines like ‘I’ve been a morally nice woman all my life…more or less’ or even ‘This haddock’s disgusting’ sound sophisticated and funny. Does this production do the job? Yes and no: it rattles along, with plenty of zing and a few good laughs. Richard E. Grant enjoys himself expansively as a caricature of self-absorption, ignoring the gauche young flapper he has invited in favour of his son Simon’s sexy socialite guest. Will Close as Simon and Ophelia Lovibond as his sister Sorel throw themselves enthusiastically into the family exhibitionism. The guests are all great fun. Charles Edwards uses his expressive face, in contrast with his suave appearance, to great comic effect as the mature diplomat Richard Greatham, bemused by the antics of his hosts. Lucy Karczewski as Jackie the gauche flapper and Ash Hunter as Sandy Tyrell, Judith’s dull admirer, both put in good performances as comic foils. Nancy Carroll shines as the sharp-tongued mature socialite eventually driven to declare to the Bliss family, ‘You’re the most infuriating set of hypocrites I’ve ever seen. This house is a complete featherbed of false emotions — you’re posing, self-centred egotists…’.
But the play stands or falls by Judith, played here by American Christine Baranski, in her West End debut. Baranski’s performance is perfectly serviceable but somewhat underpowered, a little buttoned-up. She manages a passable upper-class English accent, she gets her timing right, she looks good, but she simply doesn’t convince as the glamorous theatrical monster – maybe she herself is too nice a person? – lacking the character’s flamboyance and sheer complacent pleasure in her own melodramatic performances.
The production is gorgeous to look at: all the action takes place in the blue and gold hall/sole living area of a grand country house (not as beautiful as the opulent Louis XVI-inspired Wyndham’s Theatre, though) through the windows of which one can see a flower garden appropriate for the hostess to wander through in a pretty dress and a straw hat. The costumes are a delight. The cast sport a succession of 1920s fashions: bias-cut silk dresses, wide-leg silk pyjamas, Marcel waves and headbands for the women; plus-fours and full evening dress for the men
Noël Coward wrote the play in 1924, when he was only 24, inspired by the behaviour of a now forgotten American actress and her playwright husband when he stayed with them in New York. Often described as a comedy of bad manners, it was first performed in 1925 and became the first of his plays which is still in the mainstream theatrical repertoire. The role of Judith was originally taken by Marie Tempest, for whom Coward wrote it, and has since been played by a long list of actresses including Felicity Kendal, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Celia Johnson, Penelope Keith and Judi Dench.
The play does touch on themes such as the insincerity of acting and its faking of emotions, the difference between artifice and reality, snobbery (the family can’t remember the name of their sick scullery-maid) but its primary purpose is quite simply to entertain.
Barbara Ford
To book for Hay Fever click here.
Featured Image: Judith emotes… ([l-r] Christine Baranski, Lucy Karczewski, Ash Hunter, Richard E. Grant, Charles Edwards, Will Close, Nancy Carroll) © Marc Brenner
Cast:
Judith Bliss – Christine Baranski
David Bliss – Richard E. Grant
Myra Arundel – Nancy Carroll
Simon Bliss – Will Close
Richard Greatham – Charles Edwards
Sorel Bliss – Ophelia Lovibond
Sandy Tyrell – Ash Hunter
Jackie Coryton – Lucy Karczewski
Clara – Jo Mcinnes
Creatives:
Writer – Noël Coward
Director – Emily Burns
Associate Director – Blythe Stewart
Set and Costume designer – Frankie Bradshaw
Lighting designer – Oliver Fenwick
Sound designer – Tingying Dong