Hay Fever (Modern Classics)

Product Information

Judith comes down, asks Clara for the Sunday papers and begins reading aloud what the gossip columns say about her. The rest of her family enter. David proposes to read them the final chapter of his novel. Immediately, a minor detail about the geography of Paris is blown into a full-scale family row, with everyone talking at once about whether the Rue Saint-Honoré does or does not connect with the Place de la Concorde and hurling insults at each other. They are so wrapped up in their private row that they do not notice when the four visitors tiptoe down the stairs and out of the house. The Blisses are only momentarily distracted when the slam of the door alerts them to the flight of their guests. Judith comments, "How very rude!" and David adds, "People really do behave in the most extraordinary manner these days." Then, with no further thought of their four tormented guests, they happily return to David's manuscript and to what passes for their normal family life. [27] Revivals [ edit ] West End [ edit ] Hay Fever opened at the Ambassadors Theatre on 8 June 1925, directed by Coward, and transferred to the larger Criterion Theatre on 7 September 1925; it ran for 337 performances. [15] Coward remembered in 1964 that the notices "were amiable and well-disposed although far from effusive. It was noted, as indeed it has been today, that the play had no plot and that there were few if any 'witty' lines." [16] Hay Fever opened the same year at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York; the star, Laura Hope Crews, was accused of over-acting, [n 3] not all the supporting cast were competent, and the production closed after 49 performances. [18]

Billington, Michael. "Tonight at 8.30 review – unexpectedly nourishing Noel Coward marathon" and " The play's the thing in a fine Noël Coward revival", The Guardian 11 March 2014 and 11 May 2014 He soon became more cautious about overdoing the flamboyance, advising Cecil Beaton to tone down his outfits: "It is important not to let the public have a loophole to lampoon you." [159] However, Coward was happy to generate publicity from his lifestyle. [160] In 1969 he told Time magazine, "I acted up like crazy. I did everything that was expected of me. Part of the job." Time concluded, "Coward's greatest single gift has not been writing or composing, not acting or directing, but projecting a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise." [1] Noel Coward's Hay Fever, The Argus, 9 February 1931, p. 13; and "Hay Fever at Tivoli", The Argus, p. 10 a b Byrne, Ciar. "What's inspiring the Noël Coward renaissance?" The Independent, 21 January 2008, accessed on 17 March 2009 Historic England, "Goldenhurst Manor (1071221)", National Heritage List for England , accessed 24 August 2016

Noël Coward: BBC Radio Drama Collection

Our procedures and the technology we use have appropriate safe guards in place to keep information as secure as possible. Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, and the RCA Manufacturing Company / Leopold Stokowski and his associates / Rey Scott / British Ministry of Information (1941) New Tours", The Stage, 10 September 1925; and "Eva Moore In Hay Fever By Noel Coward", The Stage, 17 September 1925, p. 21 The play itself is a mixed bag. Whilst it’s loaded with Coward’s turns-of-phrase and snappy dialogue, it’s not his strongest work. There’s really no plot to talk of and none of the flimsily created characters does enough to elicit any sort of rapport or engagement with the audience. They seem like vacuous vessels to spew out a host of Coward’s one-liners.

The first London revival was in 1933 at the Shaftesbury Theatre with Constance Collier as Judith. [28] In 1941 the piece was revived at the Vaudeville Theatre in a repertory series of English comedies. [29]While he honed to perfection the persona of "comic genius Noël Coward", behind the mask was a man who suffered nervous breakdowns, depressions and crying fits; who feared the loss of control that came with falling in love, and had troubled relationships; whose punishing work schedule and relentless appetite for travel suggest someone almost on the run from themselves. The US actress Elaine Stritch, in a letter to mutual friends in 1951, described Coward as "one of the saddest men I’ve ever known". We will not transfer, process or store your personal information anywhere that is outside of the European Economic Area, unless we have a contractual agreement in place that is of an equivalent standard to GDPR. We occasionally employ other organisations to help fulfil our activities and agreed communication with you. For example, we work with a mailing company to send out our season brochure. When we do this, we will only give authority for the personal information to be used for the purpose it has been provided for. We will ensure that any third parties have safeguards in place to keep your personal information secure. Republic Studio, Daniel J. Bloomberg, and the Republic Studio Sound Department / Walter Wanger / The House I Live In / Peggy Ann Garner (1945) a b Hastings, Chris. "Winston Churchill vetoed Coward knighthood", Telegraph.co.uk, 3 November 2007, accessed 4 January 2009 Sending marketing communications relating to shows, events and offers, bookings and ways to support The Mill at Sonning Theatre.

Evangeline Julia Marshall, an eccentric society hostess (1854–1944), married Clement Paston Astley Cooper, grandson of Sir Astley Paston Cooper, on 10 July 1877. She inherited Hambleton Hall from her brother Walter Marshall (d. 1899), and there she entertained rising talents in the artistic world, including Streatfeild, the conductor Malcolm Sargent and the writer Charles Scott Moncrieff, as well as the young Coward. [19] Coward's fictional South Sea Islands colony, "Samolo", was loosely based on Jamaica, where he had a home; he used it as the setting not only for his novel, but for two plays ( Point Valaine and South Sea Bubble) and a musical ( Pacific 1860). [100]

Broadcast

As such it is funny, overall, but requires much of the cast to make the play work. And here, this production is only partially successful. There are laughs in the play but nowhere near as many as you’d expect. The performances, whilst exuberant, miss the mark. The ensemble plays everything at maximum, so delivering none of the nuances that you need with such text. In one scene Mother Bliss and her children are play-acting a scene from a film. It’s supposed to be an over-the-top enactment of the scene, but here it barely differs from the acting throughout the show. In fact, some of his greatest achievements lay in the stories he told during the conflict. Coward penned the script for one of the most moving films ever made, Brief Encounter; scripted, co-directed and starred in the earnestly patriotic megahit In Which We Serve, and wrote one of his most enduring stage comedies, Blithe Spirit, about a writer plagued by ghosts of his dead wives.