Hay Fever By Noel Coward Views
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York. Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure.[1]
A UK television production in 1960 featured Edith Evans as Judith Bliss and Maggie Smith as Jackie Coryton. They later played in Hay Fever on stage under the author's direction in the National Theatre revival in 1964 with Smith switching from the ingénue role of Jackie to that of the vampish Myra. Other members of the television cast were Pamela Brown, George Devine, Paul Eddington and Richard Wattis. The Times reviewed this broadcast, calling Hay Fever Mr Noel Coward’s best play... one of the most perfectly engineered comedies of the century. [12] A further UK television production in 1968 included Lucy Fleming as Sorel, Ian McKellen as Simon, Celia Johnson as Judith, Dennis Price as David, Richard Briers as Sandy, Anna Massey as Myra, Charles Gray as Richard, and Vickery Turner as Jackie.[13]
AUDITIONS for Noel Coward’s HAY FEVER – January 14th and 15th HAY FEVER is a full-length comedy Friday, January 14th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, January 15th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Springville Playhouse (underneath the Library) Cold reading from the script. 4 male roles (ages between 20 and 50) 5 female roles (ages between 20 and 50)
Noel Coward’s plays epitomize the sophisticated wit of the era between the two world wars, and Hay Fever, a comedy of manners about a family whose theatrical excesses torment a group of unsuspecting visitors, epitomizes the Coward play. Inspired by a weekend he spent at the house of the actor Laurette Taylor, Coward wrote the play in just three days. Upon its 1925 London debut on August 6, it won praise from both audiences and critics. Considered by many to be cleverly constructed, wittily written, slightly cynical, and undeniably entertaining, the work contains all the elements that would help establish Coward’s reputation as a playwright.
Hay Fever By Noel Coward Images
