Catching ‘Hay Fever’
“Hay Fever,” Noel Coward’s comedy of bad English manners, will conclude the 30th anniversary season of the Hampton Theatre Company with a run from next Thursday through June 7 at the Quogue Community Hall.
Written in 1924 and premiered in London the following year, “Hay Fever” revolves around the four members of the eccentric Bliss family, who are spending a weekend at their country home. Without informing the others, each of them has invited a guest of the opposite sex to visit.
After a hapless after-dinner parlor game breaks up quickly the first evening, each family member winds up alone with his or her guest. Flirtation, kissing, and theatricality follow, after which the Blisses act out a melodramatic scene that leaves their guests confused and horrified.
The following morning the guests discuss how uncomfortable they are and how bizarre the family is, and decide to return to London. While they are packing, the Blisses come downstairs and become embroiled in an argument about the geography of Paris. As they hear the slam of the door and realize their guests have left, they briefly comment on the visitors’ rude behavior and then resume the altercation.
The play was inspired by Coward’s visit to the home of Laurent Taylor, an American actress, where he encountered an overly theatrical lifestyle. He wrote the play in three days. According to Charles Spencer, a critic for The Telegraph, “ ‘Hay Fever’ is a comic masterpiece, with a fizzing wit and lightness of touch that is in the great tradition of high English comedy.”
Two HTC veterans, Rosemary Cline and Andrew Botsford, play the Bliss parents, a retired stage actress and a self-absorbed novelist. Gabriela Campagna and Bobby Peterson, both newcomers to the company, portray their children. Rounding out the cast are Matt Conlon, Jane Cortney, Anthony Famulari, and Amanda Griemsmann as the unfortunate guests.
Diana Marbury, the company’s artistic director, not only directs the production but also plays Clara, the Blisses’ housekeeper. Set design is by Peter Tolin-Baker, lighting by Sebastian Paczynski, and costumes by Teresa LeBrun.
Show times are Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturday evenings at 8, and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $25, $23 for senior citizens (except Saturdays), and $10 for students under 21. Dinner and theater packages will also be available. More information can be found at hamptontheagtre.org.