Hay Fever - Theatre Royal Windsor and National Tour, 2007

Stephanie Triumphant in Coward's Classic Comedy

by Paul Thomas, The Express *****

“Bliss, sheer bliss.

That is the only way to describe this timeless, ageless classic from the brilliant mind of Noel Coward.

Hay Fever took Windsor by storm this week with one of the most impressively strong cast performances I can remember.

And Stephanie Beacham topped the lot with a towering performance that deserves no less praise than labelling her night's work as simply triumphant.

Coward's eccentric Bliss family headed by Beacham as Judith Bliss, the recently retired stage actress, and Christopher Timothy as David Bliss, a self-obsessed novelist, invites a group of unsuspecting guests to spend the weekend with them and their equally two odd children, Sorel and Somin (Madeleine Hutchins and William Ellis). The resulting confusion, misdirection and mannered hilarity had the audience captivated.

This slick, sophisticated, on-the-money romp through Coward's understanding of class, relationships, behaviour and the generation gap, held together by his startling insight into family cohesion based on the melodramatic penchant of a woman still intent on playing to the crowd, is another feather in the cap of director Joe Harmston who recently directed Agatha Christie's The Unexpected Guest at the Royal.

Again, like he did with Christie, he has taken Peter Hall's production of Hay Fever and added his own superb pace to proceedings.

The action moves swiftly leaving the audience breathless for more genuine out-loud laughter a the antics of this strangely alluring family.

The guests, an upright diplomat, an athletic boxer and a fashionable sophisticate cannot cope with the staged silliness that surrounds the Bliss family house. Sandy Tyrell played by Christopher Naylor, wonderful, Myra Arundel played by Sarah Berger, a joy, Richard Greatham played by Andrew Hall, magnificent, and shy flapper Jackie Coryton played by Emily Pollet almost stole the shope, what a foil to them all.

Throw in a decadently devil-may-care housekeeper Clara played by Pamela Buchner and you have the classic Coward.

Even though his take on the eccentric English home and what they can do to those who are not part of their game is a quintessentially 1920s take on our crass class system and all that it used to entail, this comic masterpiece works still today, and how!

Beacham (Dynasty, Tenco) draws on all her knowledge of stage and screen to turn in this most definitive performance.

Timothy (All Creatures Great and Small, Doctors) is just spot-on as her apparently philandering husband.

Relationships fuzz and fade as the guests get to know their worth in the face of the Bliss family's undaunted and undiluted merry-making at their expense.

Finally, of course, all see the light of day.

This is simply something everyone must see. As we enter this year proper how nice to be treated to so much happiness and joy.”

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By Imogen Lillywhite, The Observer

“There is no one who is capable of stealing every scene like an aging Diva.

Stephanie Beacham definitely has the best part - Judith Bliss, the aging actress in Noel Coward's Hay Fever, a tale of a country house weekend with her and her theatrical family.

Like many in her profession, she has started to confuse the boundaries between real life and the theatre, and you find her spontaneously breaking into a scene from one of her extremely hammy leading roles, much to the confusion of her guests.

She and her husband, David (Christopher Timothy) and children Sorel (Madeleine Hutchins) and Simon (William Ellis) have each invited a potential paramour down to their house which, amusingly enough, is in Cookham, without thinking to mention it to each other.

What follows is a farcical dance as the potential partners discover that the true reason they've been invited there is not as love interests but as a source of amusement for the exceedingly shallow members of the Bliss family.

Herein lies the genius of Coward's writing. No one interweaves a cast of characters like he does.

There are always those little touches - the family fighting over which guest will sleep in the Japanese Room, then the girl who does end up sleeping there has nightmares about the dragons on the wallpaper.

And the children call their mother 'darling' never 'mother' except when they're very cross with her which is a concession to her being in permanent denial about her age.

The characters fall in and out of love faster than you can turn a script page, and the sad thing is, he isn't even being unrealistic.

Beacham gives an inspired performance as Judith, and Christopher Timothy, who is performing Coward for the first time, gives a good impression of the slightly distracted David.

Madeleine Hutchins and William Ellis really add life and energy to the performance with their boundless enthusiastic portrayal of the children.

And the further start of the show is the set - one of the most elaborate I have seen at the Theatre Royal Windsor, so much so that the audience applauded it when the curtain first went up.”

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More Reviews

Noel Coward’s classic comedy, delivered with perfection in this production, provides an evening of sparkling humour in the hands of a talented cast. A theatrical treat not to be missed.
Evening Express Aberdeen

Joe Harmston’s bright and lively direction combined with fine comic performances make this beautifully turned-out production a joy from start to finish. It cannot be recommended enough.
The Press and Journal Aberdeen

The slick and fast paced direction heightens the constant laughs with perfect comic timing.
BBC Oxford

This is a spirited production, brilliantly designed and packed with masterpieces of comic timing.
Theatreworld internet magazine

A shining example of making Hay - This production is a sparkling dizzy comedy caper which does exactly what it says on the tin, while effortlessly capturing the era and leaving me smiling.
Newcastle Evening Chronicle

This wonderfully lavish production and very talented cast make this truly a show not to be missed.
Wolverhampton Express and Star

One of the most stylish productions you'll see this year.
UK Theatre Online Glasgow

The production is a joyous one, full of high camp but so well controlled that performances never get out of hand.
The Argus