Hay Fever
July 8, 2008
Venue: The Royal Exchange
Date Reviewed: 8th July, 2008
Some plays are revived endlessly and yet, apart from filling theatres with their demographic, they seem to do nothing new with the text itself. You can understand why, as the target audience go home pleased as punch, but the Royal Exchange’s current production of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever will do very little to please coverts.
Unlike Coward’s brilliantly brittle comedy Private Lives, Hay Fever is uneven in tone and therefore it veers from amusing to dull bewteen scenes. None of this is the fault of the cast though who give the play oomph, when required.
The wonderful Belinda Lang gives a splendidly over the top performance as retired actress Judith Bliss. I say retired, as this is where most of the humour comes from, as this Margot Ledbetter style character ‘acts’ in everyday life, as if she is in a melodrama of epic proportions. This means that whenever Lang is on stage, there are plenty of laughs to be had, however forced.
Judith’s husband David (an underused Ben Keaton) plays second fiddle really to his eccentric wife and their spoilt children, Sorel and Simon (Fiona Button and Chris New). Once the audience realises how selfish the family is, the scene is set for a dinner party from hell. Each member of the family have invited a guest and like a fizzier version of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, the visitors are used for the Bliss family’s general amusement, like bored childrens’ toys on Boxing Day.
As is expected from Coward, some of the dialogue is spot on and very funny, particularly his swipes at both critics and the theatricality of the family themselves. But as Lysette Anthony’s vampish Myra Arundel notes, the house is a “featherbed of false emotions” making it very hard to engage throughout. Many of the scenes and situations simply repeat themselves, so much so that when another character says: “This house, it gets on my nerves”, I did find myself nodding in agreement.
The cast thankfully lift Hay Fever during moments of boredom and frustration. New, so wonderful in the Trafalgar Studios revival of Martin Sherman’s Bent delivers again here, conveying far more to his character than just a life of bliss. Button often resorts to shouting, with less conviction but her scenes with Lang display genuine chemistry. Sadly Keaton is miscast as he excels at physical comedy, yet feels restrained here due to his sidelined character, rather than his acting.
Anthony is superb, sashaying onto the stage, ready to battle with the lady of the house, played with relish by Lang.
Ashley Martin-Davis‘ brilliant set design captures the boredom of the family perfectly as they seem to have it all, except real friends.
Hay Fever is not Coward’s best play but the energetic performances cover the cracks momentarily, leaving you smiling but never laughing-out-loud. Ultimately, the barbed wit of Private Lives is far more timeless than this overdone comedy of manners.
-Glenn Meads
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Glenn highlights some significant flaws in this popular long running comedy. The obvious imbalances in tension and drama throughout the play are damaging to its overall reception. The characters are realised fully through the over-the-top and flamboyant acting employed by most cast members. As Glenn notes, Ben Keaton is overlooked in his role as father and we never fully believe his involvement in any scene. Despite this, the audience was engaged throughout and genuinely enjoyed the spectacle.
I wondered if this play was partly chosen because it is so popular with amateur societies and they would be keen to come along to compare and contrast.
I enjoyed the actors moving frantically and dramatically and delivering lines with pace. The costumes gave me something to look at in the more tedious moments and I could not help wondering if the ladies’ shoes were a correct repro of 20’s shoes. They looked very modern…I’ll have to find out.
Write about what you know is sound advice given to writers. Noel Coward certainly knew about this decadent society so the play although eccentric is also very believable. A bit of social history and food for thought on the way home from the theatre. We discussed if Noel Coward also knew about how the other half lived at the time he wrote this play.
I have seen the play performed by competent amateurs and enjoyed nearly as much. I did not care much for theatre in the round for this play…..But that’s just me. I do have quite a severe hearing loss and can miss lines when the actors have their backs to me or speak in asides.
Yes I have told friends that it is worth going to.
Not having seen this play since the production at my son’s school many years ago, I had forgotten how entertaining Noel Coward could be. This was an unexpected treat as the tickets were free having been won .
I agree with your comments above. I really enjoyed Belinda Langs performance and frequently laughed out loud at the dialogue. All the characters were colourfully portrayed except perhaps David ( Ben Keaton).
As a woman ,I took an interest in the costumes which were not so different from some appearing in the high streets today, and they too added to the ‘over- the- top’ atmoshere of the play.
All together a worthwhile and enjoyable evening.