Hay Fever (R)

Written by:
Noel Coward

Opening: May 11, 1990

Closing: May 20, 1990

Number of performances: 7

Time:June 1932

Setting:
The Parlour of the Blisses country house in Cookham, England

Synopsis:
The Bliss family is ultra Bohemian. Mother is a retired actress who makes a crisis out of every scene and father is a novelist. The daughter and son are handsome and ill mannered. One weekend all announce they are expecting a guest: mother has invited an athletic youth who is in love with her, Sorel a diplomat, Simon an intense young woman and David a flapper (a type he is studying for a novel). The guests receive an unusual and rude reception. Soon mother is paired off with the diplomat, Sorel with the athlete, Simon with the flapper, and father with his son's young woman. Dramatizing for all it is worth, Judith first fears she must tell her husband about her romance, then realizes her daughter is younger and more attractive to young men so she enacts a scene of noble sacrifice, and, noticing her husband's flirtation, she follows with a poor unhappy wife scene. The family is used to such displays, but the guests are bewildered.