Noël Coward’s ‘Hay Fever’ a classic but dated

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE: British stage & TV star Felicity Kendal plays an aging West End actress spending a weekend in the country in Noël Coward’s ‘Hay Fever’. Photo: Nobby Clark

HAY FEVER
Written by Noël Coward
Directed by Lindsay Posner
Through August 1, 2015
Duke of York’s Theatre
St. Martin’s Lane
London, United Kingdom
(0844 871 7623), www.atgtickets.com

By Scott Harrah

Noël Coward was one of the most celebrated British playwrights of the 20th century. From Private Lives to Blithe Spirit to Design for Living, Mr. Coward wrote the epitome of upper-crust, class-conscious comedies that were the antithesis of the working-class “kitchen sink dramas” by John Osbourne and the like that were popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Most of the humor still holds up in the majority of Mr. Coward’s plays, and one wishes the same could be said for Hay Fever, written in 1925.

This West End transfer of Hay Fever, which was mounted at Theatre Royal Bath in 2014 and also toured Australia, arrived in the West End earlier this spring. Ms. Kendal is no stranger to British audiences, first making a name for herself in the 1970s TV sitcom “The Good Life” and then making quite an impressive U.K. stage career in the West End productions The Real Thing, Heartbreak House, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, among others. As an American who has always been a fan of Mr. Coward’s plays, I was excited to see one of his classics in London, the city where they first made a cultural impact.

There is no question Ms. Kendal is a true professional with a commanding stage presence. She has razor-sharp coming timing, from the way she elegantly delivers Mr. Coward’s numerous bon mots to the expressive emotions on her face with its patrician-like features. Whenever Ms. Kendal is on stage, her presence is overpowering, and she almost overshadows the rest of the cast.

Ms. Kendal plays Judith, a recently retired West End actress who is having difficulty adjusting to the bucolic life in rural England. Still, Judith yearns to return to the London stage. Her novelist husband, David (Simon Shepherd), and children Sorel (Alice Orr-Ewing), and Simon (Edward Franklin), have very little stage chemistry with Ms. Kendal.

The paper-thin plot revolves around the Bliss family bringing uninvited guests to the country estate for the weekend. As one can imagine, predictable mayhem ensues as love interests and hormones swirl around all over the place.

Despite some gorgeous sets by designer Peter McIntosh and associate set designer Simon Anthony Wells, and delightful period costumes, the plot is so calculated and—dare I say it?—trite, that there are few surprises. Unlike Mr. Coward’s better plays, there are few surprises or shocks here. The dialogue also lacks the wit of Mr. Coward’s later efforts. Perhaps director Lindsay Posner could have done some script tweaks to make this 90-year-old comedy a bit more modern.

Noël Coward is one of the all-time greats of the British theatre, but Hay Fever (written when Mr. Coward was in his 20s) is devoid of the timeless genius of Private Lives and Design for Living and his other plays.

FAMILY TIES: (left to right) Alice Orr-Ewing, Felicity Kendal & Edward Franklin. Photo: Nobby Clark

‘Hay Fever’: (left to right) Celeste Dodwell & Michael Simkins. Photo: Nobby Clark

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 6, 2015
Reviewed at June 18, 2015 performance in London