THEATRE 
REVIEWS
Hay Fever
West Yorkshire Playhouse
Leeds
ENGLAND
This play brings a touch of Hay Fever with it
Noël Coward went to America and was exposed to a life of loose or irregular habits, otherwise known as the Bohemian lifestyle which sets social conventions aside. That is what this play at the West Yorkshire Playhouse was supposed to convey to the audience. One wonders where director Ian Brown got his inspiration. The audience saw a cluttered room representing a hall from 1925 with poor off shot backdrops surmounted by a magnificent over stage wild rose sculpture designed by Mike Britton and were expected to savour the whiles of the time.
Maggie Steed with Micheal Benz and Alice Haig
Coward plays with words, which actors are allowed to expand and make play with, but here we have, with a few exceptions, actors struggling with their lines because they are not sure of the conventions of the time in which the play is set. Who did the research to find out how people behaved and spoke? Some of the actors do not project and the younger members are not aware of how they would have behaved had they lived at this time and in this society. Lines were thrown away and others fade away as they are delivered. Where does the fault lay? A visit to the theatre will allow you to make your own mind up.
Here we have a lamenting, ageing actress Judith Bliss, played by Maggie Steed, whose husband David (Martin Turner) is trying to complete a book. They have two spoilt children Simon (Michael Benz) and Sorel (Alice Haig) and all are looked after by the housekeeper Clara (Connie Walker). Visitors arrive and a rambling story unfolds. The chic Myra Arundel (Emma Amos), confused Richard Greatham (Philip Bretherton), hysterical Jackie Coryton (Emily Bowker), and blustering Sandy Tyrell (Matthew Douglas) try to get involved with the family and each other, but eventually have to find another solution.
The weak plot rolls along from one situation to the next as all involved cope with their own self interest. The audience sit attentively waiting for something to happen and when something does they respond. At the end the younger members of the audience give loud applause and the older members show respect. All leave the theatre giving thought to what they have seen, but how many will remember what they have seen on the morrow. BA ©
“Hay Fever” is at the West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds on the 11th June 2010 until the 10 July, 2010. Box Office Telephone: 0113 213 7700. Ticket prices: Adults £16 - £26. Ask about ticket price concessions for children, students, pensioners and disabilitiy. Starting at 7.30pm with a duration of 2 hours 14 minutes made up of three acts of 45, 37 22 minutes with two 15 minutes intervals. Council car parking charge was free from 5.30pm until 10pm, unless it is suspended.
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