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PREVIEW: Hay Fever at NVT

Besi Besemar October 3, 2014

Gerry McCrudden’s production of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever opens at the NVT Theatre Upstairs on Friday, October 31 and runs until Saturday, November 8.

Hay Fever

Noel Coward self-deprecatingly said of his delicious comedy “it has no plot at all, and remarkably little action.” Despite his protestations it is considered one of his funniest plays and a personal favourite of his.

The Blisses are by any measure a tad eccentric and avant-garde. Without mentioning it to each other David Bliss, a novelist, his wife Judith, a retired actress, their son Simon and daughter Sorel each invite a weekend guest to stay. Misunderstandings and tempers flare as Judith’s new flame and David’s newest literary ‘inspiration’ keep company. Their children and their amours follow suit. The Bliss family’s weekend inevitability comes to an exhausting and hilarious finale.

Coward penned Hay Fever in 1924. It set the seal on his reputation as a playwright and established him as a craftsman.

He later wrote: “The idea came to me suddenly in the garden, and I finished it in about three days, a feat which later on, when I had become news value, seemed to excite gossip writers inordinately .” Laurence Olivier applied for a part in the touring version but did not get that call back.

Event: Noel Coward’s Hay Fever

Where: New Venture Theatre Upstairs, Bedford Pl, Hove, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 2PT

When: October 31 – November 8

Time: 7.45pm nightly 2.30pm on Sunday

To book tickets, CLICK HERE:

Access to the Theatre Upstairs is only possible by 4 flights of stairs, and therefore may not be suitable for those with mobility difficulties.

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