Hay Fever by Noël Coward
First produced in 1925, Hay Fever is technically a masterpiece. A comedy of bad manners which starts with the arrival of four guests, invited independently by different members of the Bliss family for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead. The promise of an idyllic and peaceful weekend is quickly trounced by the self-absorbed eccentricities of the family who leave the guests to slink away humiliated, embarrassed and abandoned. "It does not date...it is in the highest mood of fantastic comedy, it is deliciously heartless and therefore delicioiusly alive and fresh" The Times
'No one in modern English comedy boasts a more seductively comic or escapist approach to life than the self-absorbed family in Noel Coward's Hay Fever.. Coward celebrates the value, enchantment and absurdity of escaping from life into theatrics.' Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard, 17.4.09 'Coward's Hay Fever, like the allergy, is always with us.' Michael Billington, Guardian, 17.4.09 'Hay Fever...was written in a spirit as fresh and cutting as new-mown lawn. It's an affectionate and arch portrait of Berkshire bohemians behaving badly. Politeness and Restraint are not this play's middle names.' Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph, 17.4.09 'Coward's paradoxical plot hilariously exposes the guests good manners as a mask for hiprocrisy and the artifices of the family as the true expression of sincerely genuine natures.' Clare Brennan, Observer, 27.06.10 'This hectically Bohemian family, "artificial to the point of lunacy" in the memorable words of one of their hapless house guests, is among Noel Coward's strongest creations and has enjoyed star-studded outings since its 1925 debut.' Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard (London), 29.9.10 'This comedy of bad manners, in which a family of insufferably self-regarding bohemians treat their more conventional guests with abominable rudeness at a weekend house party' Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 29.9.10 'There is a splendid clipped precision about Coward's dialogue, and the constant realisation that the characters are actually thinking very different things from the banal platitudes they actually utter.' Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 29.9.10 'It's a beautifully constructed play' Jeremy Kingston, The Times, 30.9.10 It was 'written by the playwright over a single weekend in 1921. It proved a highly profitable weekend for Coward' Lyn Gardner, Guardian, 1.10.10
Noel Coward made his name as a playwright with The Vortex (1924), in which he also appeared. His numerous other successful plays included Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, and Blithe Spirit. During the war he wrote screenplays such as Brief Encounter (1944) and This Happy Breed (1942). His volumes of verse, autobiography and letters have all been published to acclaim by Methuen Drama. Coward was knighted in 1970 and died three years later in Jamaica.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780413540904 |
| ISBN 10 | 0413540901 |
| Title | Hay Fever |
| Author | Noël Coward |
| Series | Modern Classics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2002-06-20 |
| Number of pages | 112 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |