The hilarious revival of Noel Coward’s comedy about bad manners and aspirations to hog the limelight is coming to the Duke of York’s Theatre this year
The riotous Bliss family in Hay Fever
Following a highly successful run at Theatre Royal Bath and a subsequent tour last year, Hay Fever is to show at the Duke of York’s Theatre from Wednesday 29 April to Saturday 1 August 2015.
The comic play was written by Noel Coward in 1924. It was first produced a year later when Marie Tempest played the first Judith Bliss.
Meet the melodramatic Bliss family
The popular comedy is centred on the highly dramatic Bliss family, well-known for their risqué behaviour and everything a well-respected English family isn’t. When the Bliss’s decide to retreat to the countryside, the country break develops into an outrageous weekend in Berkshire.
Shocking revelations
Each member of the Bliss family invites their own guest to the country hideaway, which is a converted coach house, described as being “more rough brick atelier than drawing room.” The naïve guests are paired off with inappropriate partners in a weekend thwart with ill-timed meetings, secret seductions and shocking revelations.
The cast of Hay Fever had been referred to as being ‘ideal’. Felicity Kendal plays the once dazzling star of the stage in London, the rural host Judith Bliss, in a performance which has been described as the “greatest of her career”.
This hilarious revival of Noel Coward’s play is directed by Lindsey Posner.
Hay Fever runs for approximately two hours, including one interval.
