Hay Fever
Encyclopedia
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward
in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest
as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews
played the role in New York. Best described as a cross between high farce
and a comedy of manners
, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure.
Some writers have seen elements of Mrs. Astley Cooper and her set in the characters of the Bliss family. Coward said that the actress Laurette Taylor
was the main model. Coward introduces one of his signature theatrical devices at the end of the play, where the four guests tiptoe out as the curtain falls, leaving disorder behind them – a device that he also used in various forms in Present Laughter
, Private Lives
and Blithe Spirit
.
Coward wrote the play in three days in 1924, intending the lead role of Judith Bliss for the actress Marie Tempest
, "whom I revered and adored". Though she found it amusing, she thought it not substantial enough for a whole evening, but changed her mind after the success of Coward's The Vortex
later in 1924. Hay Fever opened at the Ambassadors Theatre on 8 June 1925 and transferred to the larger Criterion Theatre
on 7 September 1925 and ran for 337 performances. 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."
The original cast was as follows:
, Berkshire
, by the River Thames
.
Sorel and Simon Bliss, a brother and sister, exchange artistic and bohemian dialogue. Judith, their mother, displays the absent-minded theatricality of a retired star actress, and David, their father, a novelist, is concentrating on finishing his latest book. Each of the four members of the Bliss family, without consulting the others, has invited a guest for the weekend. Judith announces that she has decided to return to the stage in one of her old hits, Love's Whirlwind. She and Sorel and Simon amuse themselves acting out a melodramatic passage from the play beginning, "Is this a game?" "Yes, and a game that must be played to the finish!" They are interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.
Clara, Judith's former dresser and now her housekeeper, opens the door to the first of the four guests, Sandy Tyrell, a sporty fan of Judith's. The next arrival is the vampish Myra Arundel, whom Simon has invited. The other two guests arrive together: Richard Greatham, a diplomat, and Jackie Coryton, a brainless but good-hearted young flapper
. Tea is served. Conversation is stilted and eventually grinds to a halt. The scene ends in total and awkward silence.
The family insists that everyone should join in a parlour game, a variety of charades in which one person must guess the adverb being acted out by the others. The Blisses are in their element, but the guests flounder and the game breaks up. Simon and Jackie exit to the garden, Sorel drags Sandy into the library, and David takes Myra outside.
Left alone with Richard, Judith flirts with him, and when he chastely kisses her she theatrically overreacts as though they were conducting a serious affair. She nonplusses Richard by talking of breaking the news to David. She in turn is nonplussed to discover Sandy and Sorel kissing in the library. That too has been mere flirtation, but both Judith and Sorel enjoy themselves by exaggerating it. Judith gives a performance nobly renouncing her claim on Sandy, and exits. Sorel explains to Sandy that she was just playing the theatrical game for Judith's benefit, as "one always plays up to Mother in this house; it's a sort of unwritten law." They leave.
David and Myra enter. They too indulge in a little light flirtation, at the height of which Judith enters and finds them kissing. She makes a theatrical scene, with which David dutifully plays along. Simon rushes in violently, announcing that he and Jackie are engaged. Sorel and Sandy enter from the library, Judith goes into yet another bout of over-theatrical emoting. In the ensuing uproar, Richard asks "Is this a game?" Judith, Sorel and Simon seize on this cue from Love's Whirlwind and trot out the melodramatic dialogue as they had in Act I. David is overcome with laughter and the uncomprehending guests are dazed and aghast as Judith ends the scene by falling to the floor as if in a faint.
A breakfast table has been laid in the hall. Sandy enters and begins eating nervously. At the sound of someone approaching he escapes into the library. Jackie enters, helps herself to some breakfast and bursts into tears. Sandy comes out and they discuss how uncomfortable they were the night before and how mad the Bliss family are. When they hear people approaching, they both retreat to the library. Myra and Richard now enter and begin breakfast. Their conversation mirrors that of Sandy and Jackie, who emerge from the library to join them. All four decide that they are going to return to London without delay. Sandy agrees to drive them in his motor car. They go upstairs to collect their things.
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.
with Constance Collier
as Judith. Hay Fever has been revived numerous times around the world since then. A 1964 National Theatre
production of Hay Fever, starring Edith Evans
and Maggie Smith
with Coward directing, was part of the revival of interest in his work toward the end of his life. When invited to direct the production, Coward wrote, "I am thrilled and flattered and frankly a little flabbergasted that the National Theatre should have had the curious perceptiveness to choose a very early play of mine and to give it a cast that could play the Albanian telephone directory."
New York, Maxine Elliott's Theater, 1925
New York, Avon Theater, 1931
London, National Theatre (Old Vic), 1964
New York, Helen Hayes Theater, 1970
New York, Music Box Theater, 1985
London, Albery Theatre, 1992
London, Savoy Theatre, 1999
London, Haymarket Theatre, 2006
A UK tour in early 2007
Manchester, Royal Exchange Theatre, 2008
Leeds, West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2010
Chichester Festival Theatre, 2010
Rose Theatre Kingston, 2010
as Judith Bliss and Maggie Smith
as Jackie Coryton. They later played in Hay Fever on stage under the author's direction in the National Theatre revival in 1964 with Smith switching from the ingénue role of Jackie to that of the vampish Myra. Other members of the television cast were Pamela Brown, George Devine
, Paul Eddington
and Richard Wattis
. The Times reviewed this broadcast, calling Hay Fever "Mr Noel Coward's best play... one of the most perfectly engineered comedies of the century." A further UK television production in 1968 included Lucy Fleming
as Sorel, Ian McKellen
as Simon, Celia Johnson
as Judith, Dennis Price
as David, Richard Briers
as Sandy, Anna Massey
as Myra, Charles Gray
as Richard, and Vickery Turner
as Jackie.
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest
Marie Tempest
Dame Marie Tempest DBE was an English singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".Tempest became the most famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere...
as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews
Laura Hope Crews
Laura Hope Crews was a leading actress of the American stage in the first decades of the 20th century who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s...
played the role in New York. Best described as a cross between high farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
and a comedy of manners
Comedy of manners
The comedy of manners is a genre of play/television/film which satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young...
, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure.
Some writers have seen elements of Mrs. Astley Cooper and her set in the characters of the Bliss family. Coward said that the actress Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor was an American stage and silent film actress.-Personal life:Laurette Taylor was born in New York City of Irish extraction as Loretta Helen Cooney.-Personal life:...
was the main model. Coward introduces one of his signature theatrical devices at the end of the play, where the four guests tiptoe out as the curtain falls, leaving disorder behind them – a device that he also used in various forms in Present Laughter
Present Laughter
Present Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 and first staged in 1942 on tour, alternating with his lower middle-class domestic drama This Happy Breed...
, Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
and Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
.
History
In 1921, Coward first visited New York City, hoping that American producers would embrace his plays. During that summer, he befriended the playwright Hartley Manners and his wife, the eccentric actress Laurette Taylor. Their "over-the-top theatrical lifestyle" later inspired him in writing Hay Fever.Coward wrote the play in three days in 1924, intending the lead role of Judith Bliss for the actress Marie Tempest
Marie Tempest
Dame Marie Tempest DBE was an English singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".Tempest became the most famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere...
, "whom I revered and adored". Though she found it amusing, she thought it not substantial enough for a whole evening, but changed her mind after the success of Coward's The Vortex
The Vortex
The Vortex is a play by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The story focuses on sexual vanity and drug abuse among the upper classes. The play was Coward's first great commercial success....
later in 1924. Hay Fever opened at the Ambassadors Theatre on 8 June 1925 and transferred to the larger Criterion Theatre
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has an official capacity of 588.-Building the theatre:...
on 7 September 1925 and ran for 337 performances. 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."
The original cast was as follows:
- Sorel Bliss – Helen Spencer
- Simon Bliss – Robert Andrews
- Clara – Minnie Rayner
- Judith Bliss – Marie TempestMarie TempestDame Marie Tempest DBE was an English singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".Tempest became the most famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere...
- David Bliss – W Graham Browne
- Sandy Tyrell – Patrick Susands
- Myra Arundel – Hilda Moore
- Richard Greatham – Athole Stewart
- Jackie Coryton – Ann Trevor
Plot
The action is set in the Hall of David Bliss' house at CookhamCookham
Cookham is a village and civil parish in the north-easternmost corner of Berkshire in England, on the River Thames, notable as the home of the artist Stanley Spencer. It lies north of Maidenhead close to the border with Buckinghamshire...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, by the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
.
Act I
A Saturday afternoon in JuneSorel and Simon Bliss, a brother and sister, exchange artistic and bohemian dialogue. Judith, their mother, displays the absent-minded theatricality of a retired star actress, and David, their father, a novelist, is concentrating on finishing his latest book. Each of the four members of the Bliss family, without consulting the others, has invited a guest for the weekend. Judith announces that she has decided to return to the stage in one of her old hits, Love's Whirlwind. She and Sorel and Simon amuse themselves acting out a melodramatic passage from the play beginning, "Is this a game?" "Yes, and a game that must be played to the finish!" They are interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.
Clara, Judith's former dresser and now her housekeeper, opens the door to the first of the four guests, Sandy Tyrell, a sporty fan of Judith's. The next arrival is the vampish Myra Arundel, whom Simon has invited. The other two guests arrive together: Richard Greatham, a diplomat, and Jackie Coryton, a brainless but good-hearted young flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
. Tea is served. Conversation is stilted and eventually grinds to a halt. The scene ends in total and awkward silence.
Act II
After dinner that nightThe family insists that everyone should join in a parlour game, a variety of charades in which one person must guess the adverb being acted out by the others. The Blisses are in their element, but the guests flounder and the game breaks up. Simon and Jackie exit to the garden, Sorel drags Sandy into the library, and David takes Myra outside.
Left alone with Richard, Judith flirts with him, and when he chastely kisses her she theatrically overreacts as though they were conducting a serious affair. She nonplusses Richard by talking of breaking the news to David. She in turn is nonplussed to discover Sandy and Sorel kissing in the library. That too has been mere flirtation, but both Judith and Sorel enjoy themselves by exaggerating it. Judith gives a performance nobly renouncing her claim on Sandy, and exits. Sorel explains to Sandy that she was just playing the theatrical game for Judith's benefit, as "one always plays up to Mother in this house; it's a sort of unwritten law." They leave.
David and Myra enter. They too indulge in a little light flirtation, at the height of which Judith enters and finds them kissing. She makes a theatrical scene, with which David dutifully plays along. Simon rushes in violently, announcing that he and Jackie are engaged. Sorel and Sandy enter from the library, Judith goes into yet another bout of over-theatrical emoting. In the ensuing uproar, Richard asks "Is this a game?" Judith, Sorel and Simon seize on this cue from Love's Whirlwind and trot out the melodramatic dialogue as they had in Act I. David is overcome with laughter and the uncomprehending guests are dazed and aghast as Judith ends the scene by falling to the floor as if in a faint.
Act III
The next morningA breakfast table has been laid in the hall. Sandy enters and begins eating nervously. At the sound of someone approaching he escapes into the library. Jackie enters, helps herself to some breakfast and bursts into tears. Sandy comes out and they discuss how uncomfortable they were the night before and how mad the Bliss family are. When they hear people approaching, they both retreat to the library. Myra and Richard now enter and begin breakfast. Their conversation mirrors that of Sandy and Jackie, who emerge from the library to join them. All four decide that they are going to return to London without delay. Sandy agrees to drive them in his motor car. They go upstairs to collect their things.
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
Rue Saint-Honoré
The rue Saint-Honoré is an ancient street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.It is named after the collegial Saint-Honoré church situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré....
does or does not connect with the Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
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.
Revivals
The first London revival was in 1933 at the Shaftesbury TheatreShaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
with Constance Collier
Constance Collier
Constance Collier was an English film actress and acting coach.-Life and career:Born Laura Constance Hardie, in Windsor, Berkshire, Collier made her stage debut at the age of 3, when she played Fairy Peasblossom in A Midsummer's Night Dream...
as Judith. Hay Fever has been revived numerous times around the world since then. A 1964 National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
production of Hay Fever, starring Edith Evans
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...
and Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
with Coward directing, was part of the revival of interest in his work toward the end of his life. When invited to direct the production, Coward wrote, "I am thrilled and flattered and frankly a little flabbergasted that the National Theatre should have had the curious perceptiveness to choose a very early play of mine and to give it a cast that could play the Albanian telephone directory."
Revival casts
Notable cast members in major revivals include:New York, Maxine Elliott's Theater, 1925
- Sorel Bliss – Frieda InescortFrieda InescortFrieda Inescort was a Scottish-born actress best known for creating the role of Sorel Bliss in Noel Coward's play Hay Fever....
- Simon Bliss – Gavin Muir
- Judith Bliss – Laura Hope CrewsLaura Hope CrewsLaura Hope Crews was a leading actress of the American stage in the first decades of the 20th century who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s...
- David Bliss – Harry Davenport
- Sandy Tyrell – Reginald SheffieldReginald SheffieldReginald Sheffield was an English-born actor.He was born as Matthew Reginald Sheffield Cassan in the St. George Hanover Square District of Surrey near London, to Matthew Sheffield Cassan and Alice Mary Field...
- Richard Greatham – George Thorpe
New York, Avon Theater, 1931
- Sorel Bliss – Betty Linley
- Simon Bliss – Anthony Kemble Cooper
- Judith Bliss – Constance CollierConstance CollierConstance Collier was an English film actress and acting coach.-Life and career:Born Laura Constance Hardie, in Windsor, Berkshire, Collier made her stage debut at the age of 3, when she played Fairy Peasblossom in A Midsummer's Night Dream...
- David Bliss – Eric Cowley
London, National Theatre (Old Vic), 1964
- Sorel Bliss – Louise Purnell
- Simon Bliss – Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
- Clara – Barbara Hicks
- Judith Bliss – Edith EvansEdith EvansDame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...
- David Bliss – Anthony NichollsAnthony Nicholls (actor)Anthony Nicholls was an English film, television, and stage actor.-Life and career:Nicholls was born Sydney Horace Nicholls on 16 October 1902 in Windsor, Berkshire, England, the son of Florence and photojournalist Horace Nicholls. He served in the Royal Artillery...
- Sandy Tyrell – Robert StephensRobert StephensSir Robert Stephens was a leading English actor in the early years of England's Royal National Theatre.-Early life and career:...
- Myra Arundel – Maggie SmithMaggie SmithDame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
- Richard Greatham – Robert LangRobert Lang (actor)Robert Lang was an English actor of stage and television. Laurence Olivier invited him to join the new National Theatre Company, at the Old Vic, Robert Lang was already earning high praise as an actor. From 1971 until his death he was married to Ann Bell, best known for her portrayal of Marion...
- Jackie Coryton – Lynn RedgraveLynn RedgraveLynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
New York, Helen Hayes Theater, 1970
- Sorel Bliss – Roberta MaxwellRoberta Maxwell-Background:Roberta Maxwell began studying for the stage at the age of 12. She joined John Clark for 2 years as the child co-host of his Junior Magazine series for CBC Television, before becoming the youngest actress apprentice at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario,to pursue...
- Simon Bliss – Sam WaterstonSam WaterstonSamuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
- Judith Bliss – Shirley BoothShirley BoothShirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
- David Bliss – John WilliamsJohn Williams (actor)John Williams was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as chief inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder, and as portraying the second "Mr...
- Sandy Tyrell – John TillingerJohn TillingerJohn Tillinger is a theatre director and actor.Born in Tabriz, Iran, Tillinger was raised in England, where he first was exposed to the theatre...
- Myra Arundel – Marian MercerMarian MercerMarian Ethel Mercer was an American actress and singer.Born in Akron, Ohio, she graduated from the University of Michigan, then spent several seasons working in summer stock. She made her Broadway debut in the chorus of the short-lived musical, Greenwillow in 1960...
- Jackie Coryton – Carole ShelleyCarole ShelleyCarole Shelley is an English actress. Among her many stage roles are the character of Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked.-Life and career:...
New York, Music Box Theater, 1985
- Sorel Bliss – Mia DillonMia DillonMia Dillon is an American actress.Born in Colorado, Dillon graduated from Marple-Newtown Senior High School in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. She made her Broadway debut in Hugh Leonard's Da in 1978...
- Simon Bliss – Robert JoyRobert JoyRobert Joy is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. Sid Hammerback in CSI: NY and playing Charlie in Land of the Dead.-Early life:...
- Clara – Barbara BryneBarbara BryneBarbara Bryne is a British-born American-based stage, film and television actress. Onstage she has appeared in comedy, dramatic and musical productions...
- Judith Bliss – Rosemary HarrisRosemary HarrisRosemary Ann Harris is an English actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Throughout her career she has been nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and has won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a Tony Award, an Obie, and five Drama Desk Awards.-Early life:Harris was born in...
- David Bliss – Roy DotriceRoy DotriceRoy Dotrice, OBE is a British actor known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten.-Life and career:...
- Sandy Tyrell – Campbell ScottCampbell ScottCampbell Scott is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.-Life and career:Scott was born in New York City, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. His brother is...
- Myra Arundel – Carolyn SeymourCarolyn SeymourCarolyn Seymour is an English actress, best associated with portraying the role of Abby Grant in the BBC series Survivors in 1975....
- Richard Greatham – Charles KimbroughCharles KimbroughCharles Kimbrough is an American character actor known for playing the straight-faced anchorman Jim Dial on Murphy Brown. In 1990, his performance in the role earned him a nomination for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series".-Biography:Born in St. Paul, Minnesota,...
- Jackie Coryton – Deborah RushDeborah RushDeborah Rush is an American actress.Rush has worked in television, film and on Broadway. In 1984, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Michael Frayn's comedy Noises Off. She also acted in Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot...
London, Albery Theatre, 1992
- Sorel Bliss – Abigail CruttendenAbigail CruttendenAbigail Cruttenden is an English actress.Cruttenden played opposite Sean Bean as his character's onscreen wife Jane in several episodes of Sharpe. The couple wed in real life in 1997 and had a daughter, Evie. Three months later they started divorce proceedings, and divorced in 2000. In 2003,...
- Simon Bliss – Nick Waring
- Clara – Maria CharlesMaria CharlesMaria Charles is an English actress who carved a niche for herself on television playing clingy Jewish mothers. She appeared in the memorable Play for Today entry, "Bar Mitzvah Boy", and played Maureen Lipman's character's mother in the sitcom Agony...
- Judith Bliss – Maria AitkenMaria AitkenMaria Penelope Katharine Aitken is an English actress, writer, producer and director.Aitken was born in Dublin, the daughter of Sir William Aitken, a Conservative MP, and socialite Penelope Aitken, whose father was John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby. She is a great-niece of newspaper magnate and...
- David Bliss – John StandingJohn StandingSir John Ronald Leon Standing, 4th Baronet is an English actor.-Early life:Standing was born John Ronald Leon in London, the son of Kay Hammond , an actress, and Sir Ronald George Leon, a stockbroker...
- Myra Arundel – Carmen Du SautoyCarmen du SautoyCarmen Du Sautoy is an award-winning leading actress who has worked extensively in theatre, television and film...
- Richard Greatham – Christopher GodwinChristopher GodwinChristopher Godwin is a British actor who has been active since the late 1960s.He made his TV debut at the age of 25, when he took on the role of PC Grange in an episode of Softly, Softly...
- Jackie Coryton – Sara CroweSara CroweSara Crowe , also known as Sara K. Crowe, is a Scottish film and stage actress, who mainly plays comedy roles.-Career:...
London, Savoy Theatre, 1999
- Sorel Bliss – Monica Dolan
- Simon Bliss – Stephen ManganStephen ManganStephen Mangan is an English actor, best known for his roles as Guy Secretan in the television series Green Wing, Dan Moody in I'm Alan Partridge and as Holistic Detective Dirk Gently in the 2010 BBC adaptation of Douglas Adams' book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, as well as Sean Lincoln...
- Judith Bliss – Geraldine McEwanGeraldine McEwanGeraldine McEwan is an English actor with a diverse history in theatre, film, and television. From 2004 to 2009 she appeared as Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie sleuth, for the series Marple.-Background:...
- David Bliss – Peter BlythePeter BlythePeter Blythe was a British character actor, best known as Samuel "Soapy Sam" Ballard on Rumpole of the Bailey.-Early life:...
- Myra Arundel – Sylvestra Le TouzelSylvestra Le TouzelSylvestra Le Touzel is a British television, film and stage actor who was born on Jersey in the Channel Islands and raised in Kensington, London. She was schooled in East Acton.-TV:...
- Richard Greatham – Malcolm SinclairMalcolm SinclairMalcolm Sinclair is a British stage and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as 'Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher' in the television series Pie in the Sky , although he has an extensive number of film, television and theatre roles to his credit...
- Jackie Coryton – Cathryn BradshawCathryn BradshawCathryn Bradshaw is an English actress, perhaps best-known for her role in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.-Background:Bradshaw trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol and graduated in 1987.-Career:...
London, Haymarket Theatre, 2006
- Sorel Bliss – Kim MedcalfKim MedcalfKim Louise Medcalf is an English actress and occasional singer.She has made occasional appearances as a singer and is best known for playing the character Sam Mitchell in the long running BBC Soap Opera EastEnders from 2002 to 2005....
- Simon Bliss – Dan StevensDan StevensDaniel Jonathan Stevens is a British actor.-Education:Stevens was educated at Tonbridge School, an independent school in the market town of Tonbridge in Kent, in South East England, followed by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read English...
- Judith Bliss – Judi DenchJudi DenchDame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
- David Bliss – Peter BowlesPeter Bowles-Early life:Bowles was born in London, England, the son of Sarah Jane and Herbert Reginald Bowles. His father was a chauffeur and butler at a stately home in Warwickshire; but, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was seconded to work as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and moved the family to Nottingham...
- Sandy Tyrell – Charles EdwardsCharles Edwards (English actor)Charles Edwards is an English actor, the youngest of four brothers in his family He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1992. His first professional theatre engagement was in Blithe Spirit at age 24...
- Myra Arundel – Belinda LangBelinda LangBelinda Lang is an English actress, best known in the United Kingdom for her role as Bill Porter in the long running BBC sitcom 2point4 children .-Television:...
A UK tour in early 2007
- Sorel Bliss – Madeleine Hutchins
- Simon Bliss – William Ellis
- Judith Bliss – Stephanie BeachamStephanie BeachamStephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...
- David Bliss – Christopher TimothyChristopher TimothyChristopher Timothy is a Welsh actor, television director and writer. Timothy is possibly best known today for his role as James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small; more recently he has starred as Dr. Brendan 'Mac' McGuire in the British television drama Doctors...
- Sandy Tyrell – Christopher NaylorChristopher NaylorChristopher Naylor is a British actor. He has appeared on TV in Warriors , Bugs , Sweet Revenge , In Love with Barbara and onstage in a 2007 regional tour of Hay Fever. He currently stars in the West End stage production of The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre.-External links:...
- Richard Greatham – Andrew HallAndrew Hall (actor)Andrew Hall is an English actor and director.Most recently has been seen in ITV's Coronation Street playing the controversial character of Marc Selby...
Manchester, Royal Exchange Theatre, 2008
- Sorel Bliss – Fiona Button
- Simon Bliss – Chris New
- Judith Bliss – Belinda LangBelinda LangBelinda Lang is an English actress, best known in the United Kingdom for her role as Bill Porter in the long running BBC sitcom 2point4 children .-Television:...
- David Bliss – Ben KeatonBen KeatonBen Keaton is an Irish actor who appeared as Jeff Brannigan in ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He appeared in BBC's Casualty playing the part of Spencer between 1999-2002. He also appeared in the Channel 4's Irish comedy Father Ted, "Think Fast, Father Ted"...
- Myra Arundel – Lysette AnthonyLysette AnthonyLysette Anthony is an English film, television, and theatre actress.-Early life:Anthony was born Lysette Chodzko in Fulham, London, the only daughter of actors Michael Anthony, and Bernadette Milnes....
- Richard Greatham – Simon TrevesSimon TrevesFrederick Simon Treves, known as Simon Treves, is an English actor, director and writer probably best known for playing Harold 'Stinker' Pinker in three series of ITV's Jeeves and Wooster.-Biography:...
Leeds, West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2010
- Myra Arundel - Emma Amos
- David Bliss - Michael Benz / Martin TurnerMartin TurnerMartin Turner is the bass guitarist, lead vocalist and a founding member of the rock band, Wishbone Ash.-Career:...
- Jackie Coryton – Emily BowkerEmily BowkerEmily Bowker is an actress who has appeared on television in programmes such as Shameless, Torchwood, Holby City, Wire in the Blood, and The Bill. Her theatrical career to date includes plays at The Arcola Theatre, Finborough Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Cheltenham Everyman and Theatre Clywd...
- Richard Greatham – Philip BrethertonPhilip BrethertonPhilip Bretherton is an English actor best known for his role as Alistair Deacon in the British television series As Time Goes By....
- Sandy Tyrell - Matthew Douglas
- Sorel Bliss – Alice Haig
- Judith Bliss - Maggie SteedMaggie SteedMaggie Steed is an English actress and comedienne.-Youth:After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, she left the theatre for several years.-Career:...
- Clara - Connie Walker
Chichester Festival Theatre, 2010
- Judith Bliss - Diana RiggDiana RiggDame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
- Sandy Tyrell - Edward BennettEdward Bennett (actor)-Life:Bennett attended Chipping Campden School in Gloucestershire prior to graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . In the RSC 2008 summer Stratford-upon-Avon season he appeared as Laertes in Hamlet, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Navarre in Love's Labour's Lost...
- Sorel Bliss - Laura RogersLaura RogersLaura Rogers is a British actress.-Biography:As a youngster Rogers was a member of the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre Company and Upland Arts, the Swansea Gilbert and Sullivan society...
- David Bliss - Simon WilliamsSimon Williams (actor)Simon Williams is an English actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper-class roles, he is also known for playing Dr...
- Richard Greatham – Guy Henry
- Myra Arundel - Caroline LangrisheCaroline LangrisheCaroline Langrishe is an English actress.In 1976, Langrishe appeared in the BBC production of The Glittering Prizes. In 1977 she played the role of Kitty in a BBC adaptation of Anna Karenina. Her first big part was in the 1978 British adaption of Les Misérables...
Rose Theatre Kingston, 2010
- Judith Bliss - Celia ImrieCelia ImrieCelia Diana Savile Imrie is an English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom...
/ Nichola McAuliffeNichola McAuliffeNichola McAuliffe is an English television and stage actress and writer, best known for her role as Sheila Sabatini in the sitcom Surgical Spirit.-Background:McAuliffe was born in 1955 in Surrey, England... - Myra Arundel - Alexandra GilbreathAlexandra GilbreathAlexandra Gilbreath is an award-winning English actress.Gilbreath is widely known for her work both on stage and onscreen . She gained popularity with the Royal Shakespeare Company on such works as The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Tamer Tamed, and The Winter's Tale and Merry Wives:...
- Richard Greatham – Adrian LukisAdrian LukisAdrian Lukis, born in 1958 in Birmingham, is an actor who has appeared regularly in British television drama since the late 1980s. He trained at Drama Studio London...
Television versions
A UK television production in 1960 featured Edith EvansEdith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...
as Judith Bliss and Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
as Jackie Coryton. They later played in Hay Fever on stage under the author's direction in the National Theatre revival in 1964 with Smith switching from the ingénue role of Jackie to that of the vampish Myra. Other members of the television cast were Pamela Brown, George Devine
George Devine
George Alexander Cassady Devine CBE was an extremely influential theatrical manager, director, teacher and actor in London from the late 1940s until his death. He also worked in the media of TV and film.-Biography:...
, Paul Eddington
Paul Eddington
Paul Eddington CBE was an English actor best known for his appearances in popular television sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s: The Good Life, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Early life:...
and Richard Wattis
Richard Wattis
Richard Cameron Wattis , was an English character actor.He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the family electrical engineering firm before becoming a professional actor. After his debut with Croydon Repertory Theatre he made many stage...
. The Times reviewed this broadcast, calling Hay Fever "Mr Noel Coward's best play... one of the most perfectly engineered comedies of the century." A further UK television production in 1968 included Lucy Fleming
Lucy Fleming
Lucy Fleming is a British actress.She is the daughter of the actress Celia Johnson and writer Peter Fleming, as well as the niece of James Bond author Ian Fleming...
as Sorel, Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
as Simon, Celia Johnson
Celia Johnson
Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson DBE was an English actress.She began her stage acting career in 1928, and subsequently achieved success in West End and Broadway productions. She also appeared in several films, including the romantic drama Brief Encounter , for which she received a nomination for the...
as Judith, Dennis Price
Dennis Price
Dennis Price was an English actor, remembered for his suave screen roles, particularly Louis Mazzini in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and for his portrayal of the omniscient valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G...
as David, Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
as Sandy, Anna Massey
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...
as Myra, Charles Gray
Charles Gray (actor)
Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
as Richard, and Vickery Turner
Vickery Turner
Vickery Turner was a British actress, playwright, author and stage director. She started out on stage and her first breakthrough role was in the first production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Vanessa Redgrave...
as Jackie.