Hay Fever at The Noel Coward Theatre

I certainly wouldn’t want to be a house guest with the Bliss family, but watching their antics in Howard Davies’ marvellous new production at The Noel Coward Theatre is an absolute delight.  Bunny Christie has dispensed with the usual beautifully decorated twenties drawing room, opting instead for a chaotic space filled with Simon Bliss’s terrible nude canvases.  This new take on the bohemian Bliss’s home sets the scene perfectly;  we know immediately that this is no ordinary family about to embark on no ordinary weekend in the country.

Various house guests are due to descend upon this less than visitor friendly household, each one a surprise to the other members of the family.  The predatory, ‘resting’ actress Judith Bliss, played to sexy and comic perfection by Lindsay Duncan, has invited a young infatuated male fan.  Her daughter, Sorrel, in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s more than capable hands, is gauche and gruff in equal measure and is expectantly awaiting the arrival of a buttoned-up diplomat.  Jeremy Northam is extremely funny, expertly highlighting this poor man’s rising anxiety.  Meanwhile Mr. Bliss, the always watchable Kevin R. McNally, has decided to spend the weekend ‘observing’ a young cockney flapper.  Amy Morgan really manages to elicit our sympathy as she becomes the butt of this heartless family’s taunts and, whilst one of my favourite actresses, Olivia Colman, seems to be slightly uncomfortable in the role of the predatory Myra Arundel, Freddie Fox, as brattish Simon Bliss, is a joy to behold.  The sibling bickering between him and Phoebe is totally believable.

The rain we see streaming down the set’s windows mirrors the relentless discomfort these poor house guests have to endure.  They are there purely as walk-on parts in a Bliss family theatrical production. Judith’s need to turn her life into a romantic melodrama has filtered down to the rest of her brood, so that sincerity has flown totally out of, yes you’ve guessed it, the window.

This production highlights all Coward’s witty dialogue, making it appear new and even funnier than ever.  I particularly loved Lindsay Duncan’s “turn” with Jeremy Northam on the sofa.  Her “can you punt” and shocked cry of “Richard” has to be the benchmark for anyone attempting to portray La Bliss, because underneath the exaggeration lies an element of truth.  We totally believe in her and her family.

I sat two rows back and felt myself squirming with probably the same amount of discomfort as the characters on stage, because Howard Davies allowed a couple of pauses to go on almost too long, but not quite – pure genius.  But that to me sums up the whole production.  I urge you to give youself a treat and see Coward as he should be played.

Juno and the Paycock at The Lyttleton

Another day, another play, actually another Irish play – Juno and the Paycock at The Lyttleton.  Playboy of the Western World may have got the good reviews, but, for me this co-production with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin is better, mainly because there are no weak links in the acting department. 

With the Irish Civil War as a backdrop, Juno and the Paycock, set in a Dublin tenement in 1922, concerns the Boyle family;  the father “Captain” Jack Boyle, mother Juno, daughter, Mary and son Johnny.  Jack, excellently portrayed by Ciaran Hinds would rather tell “tall” sea stories than do a job of work.  The work ethic is only instilled in Juno, the stunningly effective Sinead Cusack, as Mary is on strike and Johnny, having lost an arm in the War of Independence, now lives his life in fear of being executed as a punishment for betraying a fellow IRA comrade.  The play brilliantly illustrates the family’s difficulties, celebrations when luck comes calling and heartache when they realise the luck was false.

The physical timing in some of the scenes is superb, testament to the fact that the cast are already immersed in their characters having been playing them in Dublin.  Janet Moran as neighbour Mrs. Maisie Madigan and Risteard Cooper playing Jack’s rogue of a drinking buddy, Joxer, lighten the whole proceedings really well and the duet with Juno and Mary is wonderfully touching.  In fact under Howard Davies’ direction and Bob Crowley’s design, Sean O’Casey’s devastating portrait of wasted potential in a Dublin torn apart by the chaos of War, is perfectly brought to life.  Finally, when the tragedy ultimately strikes Sinead Cusack is intensely moving.

My only reservation is that it took a little while for me to tune into the Dublin dialect, but once there I was hooked.