HAY FEVER. To 18 October.
Hornchurch.
HAY FEVER
by Noel Coward.
Queen’s Theatre To 18 October 2008.
Tue0Sat 8pm Mat 11, 16 Oct 2.30pm.
Audio-described 15 Oct.
BSL Signed 15 Oct.
Captioned 11 Oct 2.30pm.
Run s 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKTS: 01708 443333.
ww.queens-theatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 7 October.
Beastly life at the Blisses sometimes catches fire.
Bob Carlton’s revival is a mix of the good and the ghastly. At first we seem in for an evening filled with the stretched vowels and self-conscious poses of people playing at being Cowardly.
Young Sorel expresses a wish for the family’s behaviour to be more normal. She may not mean it, but it goes ill with the kind of vertical slithering Michelle Long indulges in here. In the artistic, solipsistic Bliss family, at home over a weekend in Cookham, the elders are the betters. There’s a slight sense of contrivance to Shaun Hennessy as the novelist father, but he has a directness that fits the character’s comparative lack of involvement in the shenanigans – only the final scene fully reveals his ego.
Claire Storey’s Judith has an economic simplicity both in costume and behaviour. This ex-West End Star, whose farewell to theatre (and the gossip columns – how intently she re-reads what’s already been read to her about herself) is never quite final, has a star’s easy assumption of authority. The occasional pose comes naturally to her on the proscenium of her own drawing-room.
And amid the over-glacial stylisation are moments of truth, like Sam Kordbacheh’s Simon with his expression showing he’s aware there’s trouble just ahead as he comes round to informing people that he too has invited someone down for the weekend.
There are more from the hapless visitors; Simon Jessop’s Sandy stands in glum awe gripping his gloves as the household whirls around him while Oliver Beamish shows how a professional diplomat handles a series of embarrassing and infuriating experiences, ever trying to please, puzzled or ingratiating by turn. A couple of moments show the serious, and seriously unimaginative, man’s self-conscious attempts at humour.
Such genuinely funny moments contrast places where there’s mere straining after a generalised Coward style. This comedy needs style, but when not underpinned by thought about character it becomes effortful stereotyping; if only there were more ideas at times underpinning the elegance. No doubting, though, the value of Mark Walters’ splendid set, which spreads its two floors in oak-panelled splendour across the Queen’s stage.
Sorel Bliss: Michelle Long.
Simon Bliss: Sam Kordbacheh.
Clara: Diana Croft.
Judith Bliss: Claire Storey.
David Bliss: Shaun Hennessy.
Sandy Tyrell: Simon Jessop.
Myra Arundel: Lindsay Ashworth.
Richard Greatham: Oliver Beamish.
Jackie Coryton: Laura Penneycard.
Director: Bob Carlton.
Designer: Mark Walters.
Lighting: Paul Stone.
2008-10-09 08:56:41