Hay Fever Tickets

Noel Coward first penned “Hay Fever” back in 1924 and it eventually premiered in front of London theatre audiences at the Ambassador’s Theatre a year later. It proved to be a popular show and eventually made the transition to the Criterion Theatre and then New York, culminating in its current-day status as a renowned piece of work from one of the 20th century’s best known playwrights. So as it arrives at the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End in 2012 it is certain to attract a great deal of attention, particularly as it sports a director in Howard Davies and a cast that includes Lindsay Duncan, Olivia Colman, Jeremy Northam and Kevin McNally.

Duncan is a well known Scottish actress who has accumulated a great deal of credits during her career. Some of these are screen credits, making her recognisable to those that have seen the likes of “Doctor Who”, “Rome” and Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” (she also has a voice credit in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace”), though there is a long list of theatre roles as well. She has appeared in a wealth of productions between the mid 1970s and the modern day from “Plenty” at the National Theatre in 1978 to Laurence Olivier Award winning performances in “Les Liaisons dangereuses” at the Ambassador’s Theatre in 1985 and “Private Lives” at the then-Albery Theatre (now the Noel Coward) in 2001.

Olivia Colman, meanwhile, is also a recognisable actress thanks to her appearances in numerous British comedy series, with examples such as “Peep Show”, “That Mitchell and Webb Look” and “Green Wing”, in addition to movies like “Tyrannosaur”, “Hot Fuzz” and “Dog Altogether”. For the stage she has appeared in “England People Very” nice at the National Theatre in 2009.

“Hay Fever” takes audiences through a rollercoaster weekend at the hands of Judith Bliss (Duncan), a former star of the stage who is now milking her retirement for all its worth, as she takes her young suitor for a weekend away in the countryside. She is unaware that her novelist husband and their children will also be making the trip and the result is a chaotic and awkward house party to remember.

Following the musical “Million Dollar Quartet”, “Hay Fever” appears at the Noel Coward Theatre with a run from Thursday 23rd February 2012 (previews from Friday 10th February 2012) to Saturday 2nd June 2012.