Hay Fever - Review

Wyndham's Theatre, London

*****

Written by Noel Coward

Directed by Emily Burns

Richard E. Grant and Christine Baranski

Marking a trifecta of Noel Coward's work that has played on London's stages in recent weeks, Hay Fever has just opened a two-month residency at the Wyndham's Theatre. It speaks volumes for Coward’s writing that, when sublimely performed as in this instance, a farce that is firmly fixed in the Roaring Twenties can make for exceptional entertainment some 100 years later.

A wealthy household, headed by the eclectically appalling and bohemian Judith and David Bliss, and shared with their equally appalling adult children Simon and Sorel, sees each of that quartet having invited a guest to stay for the weekend. While romantic intentions may have inspired each of those four invitations, such is Coward’s genius that the carefully laid plans all go deliciously awry. Imagine if you will The Great Gatsby having been given a comic makeover, and you start to get close to how this classy confection of a play gloriously parodies England after the Great War.

The show’s star billing sees Christine Baranski and Richard E. Grant sparking off each other as Judith and David, with Will Close and Ophelia Lovibond as their petulantly privileged offspring. The evening’s comedy however is driven not by its leads (gifted though they are) but rather by the entire company, in a show that offers possibly the finest ensemble work in town. Nancy Carroll, Charles Edwards, Ash Hunter and Lucy Karczewski complement the Bliss family as their respective paramours with the acting and interacting between the eight, combining  to create a production of comic excellence.

Fusing acid barbs with immaculately timed and withering silences - matched only by moments of excruciatingly brilliant awkwardness - each of Coward’s quips lands perfectly, Emily Burns having helmed a magnificent company. Credit too to Jo McInnes as the much put-upon housemaid/domestic, Clara. As with Still Life, Coward’s gimlet eye picking out the nuances of the English class system.

The show’s production values are equally sumptuous. Frankie Bradshaw has designed a stunning lounge for the Bliss residence where all the action takes place, lacing the room with sufficient doors to enable the proceedings to run like clockwork.

Frightfully fabulous five-star farce!

Runs until 12th December

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Nightfall - Review

Bridge Theatre, London

**

Written by Barney Norris

Directed by Laurie Sansom

The cast of Nightfall

There was a 15-minute delay to the commencement of Nightfall on the occasion of this review, with an actor delayed on public transport. Sadly that delay was all too short, as what followed was a play that promised so much but delivered little more than poorly performed pretensions. Rarely has an on-stage tree stump been in competition for the evening’s most wooden performance.

Barney Norris’ play takes place on a Wiltshire farm that has been mortgaged up to the hilt. Claire Skinner is Jenny the farmer’s widow while Ophelia Lovibond and Sion Daniel Young play her children Lou and Ryan, with Ukweli Roach completing the quartet as family friend Pete. Skinner in particular is capable of greatness but here, weighed down by Norris’ turgid text, she’s left to utter unconvincing platitudes. To be fair, there is fine work from Lovibond who manages to convince us of her angst, but in what is little more than a pot-pourri of issues that touch upon race, class and aspirational social mobility Norris achieves very little. Second act denouements that are intended to shock, only prove that the family on stage are as dysfunctional as the drama from which they have been created.

Rae Smith’s imaginative set is impressive, but Christopher Shutt’s sound design - and this in one of London’s newest auditoria too - is poor, leaving chunks of the text inaudible. On reflection, this might have been a good thing.

Runs until 26th May

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan