Hay Fever
Noël Coward
Set in a country house, the play focuses on the Bliss family—a retired actress mother, a novelist father, and two bohemian children—who have each invited a guest for the weekend without telling the others. The guests are subjected to the family’s melodramatic, self-absorbed behavior and intense parlour games, eventually fleeing in secret while the Blisses are embroiled in a characteristic family row. It is a brilliant comedy of bad manners that satirizes the theatricality of everyday life. The play is celebrated for its plotless but perfectly paced structure and its hilarious portrayal of artistic eccentricity.
Judith Bliss: A retired, highly melodramatic stage actress who treats her domestic life as a series of grand performances, frequently confusing and alienating her weekend guests. David Bliss: A self-absorbed novelist who, along with his family, creates a chaotic atmosphere where reality is constantly sacrificed for the sake of dramatic effect and ego. Sorel Bliss: The daughter who fitfully attempts to bring some normalcy to her eccentric family, only to find herself inevitably drawn back into their theatrical games.
First Performance: 1925, at Ambassadors Theatre, London
A critical and commercial triumph that established Coward as a master of the comedy of manners for the modern age.
Original Actors: Marie Tempest, Robert Andrews