Noel Coward’s ‘Hay Fever’ comes to the Theatre Royal next month
Returning to Theatre Royal, in Bury St Edmunds, next month, with their latest touring production, LAMDA grace the stage with a new adaptation of Noël Coward’s 1920s comedy, Hay Fever.
Four house guests are subjected to a turbulent countryside weekend of warped romance, misplaced desire and the Bliss family version of hospitality. Unconventional, risqué and often downright rude, they are everything a respectable English family shouldn’t be.
Four guests have been invited to the Bliss household, all believing they’d have their host to themselves. One believing he is in for a romantic tryst with an unattached beauty, another is there to act as muse to an uninspired author and provide fertile ground for research.
The last two are older lovers expecting to have their younger counterparts to themselves.
When they are all forced to engage within close quarters, romantic alliances shift with frivolous ease, misunderstandings and tempers flare and the Bliss family have no choice but to give up on their hope of a quiet weekend as they wreak emotional havoc on their guests. Surprises, romance and outrageous behaviour will lead to the four guests regretting ever accepting an invitation from the melodramatic Blisses
The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) produce over 20 public shows across London each year – from Shakespeare to Sondheim, new writing to old favourites. Many of these shows transfer and tour to venues across the UK and Europe. Graduating actors also perform in industry showcases in London’s West End, New York and Los Angeles.
Hay Fever was written by Noël Coward in 1924 and is set entirely in the Bliss family home, where dysfunction, drama and melodrama are the order of the day. Coward’s deliciously biting comedy of bad manners takes a sharp look at the sorts of games people play to avoid the realities of life.
Tickets for the play, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday, April 18 to 21, are on sale at the Box Office, call 01284 769505, book online at www.theatreroyal.org/shows/hay-fever-2/ or visit the theatre in person.