Noel Coward's
HAY FEVER
12 Performances
Thursdays
Fridays
Saturdays
August 25 through September 17
Reservations
Highly Recommended
Thursday $12
(Students $6)
Fridays $15
(Students $8)
Saturdays
All Seats $15
Reservations Recommended
Toll Free Box Office
877 666-1855
Catch Hay Fever !
by Jerry GoldbergOne of my absolute favorite programs back in the old radio days was a mystery called Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. I was glued to my bedside Emerson from the string strains of its opening theme, oddly romantic for such a show, I thought, even at my young age.
How would Mr. Keen track down this week’s stray? Only the half hour would tell.
Needless to say Mr. K always ‘got his man,’ just in time for the program’s theme to lead us out and onto the next broadcast.
Long after the indomitable detective had traced his last lost person I heard that song again, quite out of context. “Ah, Mr. Keen lives,” I thrilled, wondering whether anyone else was making the connection!
However, this time the melody had lyrics. It was being sung!
Someday I'll find you
Moonlight behind you
True to the dreams I am dreaming…
Never mind the naughty joke played by the producers of Mr. Keen… -- slipping a song by us with that title. I chuckle still at the cheek. Yet, cheek aside, “Someday I’ll Find You” was and is as plaintive as any song I’ve ever heard. Its singer at my first hearing -- playing that plaintive like no one I’d ever heard -- was its composer, Noel Coward.
With the years I came to learn more about Coward and his singular talents… (1) to amuse – as a songwriter, as a brilliant and important playwright (track down Brief Encounter -- the 1946 movie version of his one-act play, Still Life. I think you’ll agree that it’s one of the most romantic stories ever told)… and (2) to stimulate -- as the writer of some compelling, seemingly un-Coward-esque works about war (for Coward this meant “the big one.”).
It may fairly be said about his early years that Noel Coward (1899-1973) belonged to a world that never existed – one he created with his persona and his art. Especially with his plays.
His world was sophisticated, superficial yet witty, good-looking and graceful. Cigarettes and stemmed glasses and smoking jackets and filmy chiffon conveyed the impression that its denizens were paragons of elegance… and certainly were nothing if not theatrical.
Such is the world of Coward’s 12th play, 1925’s Hay Fever.
A luminous and entertaining comedy, Hay Fever is set in an English country house in the 1920s -- the weekend getaway of the upper-class Bliss family. The Blisses are privileged, bored and ultra Bohemian. Judith Bliss has recently retired from the stage and, to slake her ennui, has invited a young admirer for the weekend. She’s perturbed to discover that her husband, son and daughter are also planning to ‘entertain’ but that none of them has seen fit to inform the other members of the family.
The Bliss’s guests arrive only to be humiliated by the rudeness and self-absorption of their hosts who cast them as supporting players in an increasingly hilarious and convoluted series of scenes and intrigues.
Hay Fever’s characters are an assortment of 1920s quasi-cliches: Judith, the self indulgent, overly dramatic retired actress who uses the world as her stage; her husband, David, the self-indulgent writer who uses everyone as fodder for his novels; son Simon and daughter Sorel, the twenty-something self-indulgent and spoiled Bliss offspring; Clara, the maid, who had been Judith’s dresser and retired with her but hasn’t a clue how to keep house; Myra, the wise-cracking ‘vamp’ who has her eye but not her heart set on David; Richard, the inept diplomat; Sandy, the young boxer who has much brawn and little brain; and Jackie, the empty-headed somewhat shy ‘flapper’ who is quite terrified by the larger-than-life and quite over-the-top personalities around her.
Much of the humor in this part farce, part comedy of manners derives from the way Coward’s characters behave in odd and unexpected ways, despite being placed in ordinary situations. The Bliss family leaps to melodramatic and emotional extremes at the slightest provocation, leaving their guests at a loss for how to respond and highlighting the absurdity of social and romantic conventions that might be accepted as normal.
Sorel’s line in Act 2 -- “None of us ever means anything.” – perfectly describes her family’s endless play-acting, the cause of the chaotic situations in the play that, according to Noel Coward, is considered by many to be his best comedy.
If you’ve been fortunate enough ever to have seen Private Lives, Present Laughter or Blithe Spirit, you’ll know this is saying something!
Hay Fever, Actors Theatre Playhouse’s second “main stage” production for 2011 (the imaginative romantic comedy Dead Man’s Cell Phone having earlier kicked off the season), will run from August 25 through September 17, on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
Ticket prices are $12 on Thursdays ($6 for students), $15 on Fridays ($8 for students) and $15 for all seats on Saturdays. Reservations are strongly recommended and may be made by calling the toll-free box office and information system at 877-666-1855. Details are available at www.Actors-Theatre.info.
Brattleboro’s and ATP’s Gregory Lesch, well-known and regarded as a consummate actor -- and in the last couple years for his directorial expertise -- directs the cast that includes veteran ATP actors Terri Storti (Judith Bliss), Dan Patterson (David Bliss) and Gail Haas (Clara). Also returning to the ATP stage are Amy Green (Myra), Peter Eisenstadtner (Richard), Abby Hadden (Sorel Bliss) and Michael Duffin (Sandy). And making their debuts as ATP players, Jordan Mitchell-Love (Simon Bliss) and Michelle Page (Jackie).
Full disclosure: Greg Lesch and I work together at the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce. I’ve tracked his involvement with Hay Fever and we’ve had many discussions about it. I thought you, Dear Reader, might be interested in hearing from Greg in his own words.
JG: You’ve been involved at ATP as an actor and, more recently, as a director. What’s the difference?
GL: Control. An actor’s in control only over his own character. And even some of that control may be surrendered to the director. How many times have I thought, as an actor, that I’d have blocked the scene differently, or asked to have a line read in a different way. A director can build something from scratch, working with the actors, designers, technicians – everyone it takes to create an evening of theater.
JG: What drew you to Hay Fever?
GL: Well, I’ve acted in many comedies over the years and have always wanted to direct one. And I’m usually attracted to plays about the theater or about theater people. One of my all-time favorite acting experiences was in Noises Off, one of the funniest comedies ever written. There are definite elements of Noises Off in Hay Fever.
Also, during my graduate studies in the U.K., I worked with the great British actor, Maria Aitken. Coward was one of her fortes. I learned a lot from her and became very excited about doing that style of comedy. Hay Fever attracted me because it’s all style and situational ‘shifts’.
I read somewhere that someone, maybe Coward himself, said that Hay Fever’s plot is whisper thin. That’s true. So the focus is really on the actor, on performance. Those have to carry the day! I saw this as a chance to work with actors in a style that they may not be that familiar with.
JG: Why should folks see Hay Fever?
GL: We live in an age of ‘bigger is better’. I think ATP audiences will enjoy the outrageous, over-the-top Blisses. They’re like today’s Osbornes. Hey, I guess they’d be great as a reality show – where the humor comes out of outrageousness clashing with ordinary.
This is the perfect summer play – light, refreshing, no sturm, no drang. An evening with the Blisses is, well, theatrical Bliss. Come meet them!
