Christine Baranski and Richard E. Grant Turn Coward’s Hay Fever Into a West End Delight

Hay Fever | Wyndham’s Theatre until 12th December 2026

A beautifully cast revival, 101 years after its premiere, proves as funny as ever.

Hay Fever turns 101 this year. Noël Coward’s second play, written shortly after the more serious The Vortex, which tackled drug addiction, is a far lighter affair by comparison. It was quite ahead of its time, one of those plays that doesn’t really have a plot as such, no murders, no affairs. Instead, it features Judith Bliss, a retired West End actress who invites a young lover for the weekend, only to discover her husband has also invited a guest, and their two thoroughly self-absorbed children, Sorrel and Simon, have each brought a guest of their own. It’s a comedy of embarrassment, bad manners, and style.

The play was inspired by a chaotic weekend Coward spent visiting American actress Laurette Taylor and her husband Hartley Manners in New York, where the household thrived on fun, games, and emotional dramas. Indeed, Coward famously referred to Taylor’s husband as “Hardly Manners”!

This revival stars Christine Baranski as Judith Bliss, alongside Richard E. Grant as her husband. Grant, now as famous for his unfortunate gaffe on Celebrity Traitors! as for his acting, returns to the stage on safer ground. There’s something about him; I find him fascinating to watch and he’s one of my favourite actors. I loved him in the last Star Wars, where he was wonderfully over the top, and I’ve also been watching his documentary series tracing the route of the Odyssey and listening to his latest audiobook, I’ve been thoroughly “Richard E. Granted out” lately.

But he is superb in this, even in what is technically a minor role. He hasn’t a great deal to do, a couple of short scenes, but he seizes what stage time he has with both hands, delivering some very funny business and every line perfectly.

The set is a beautiful room, though I have slightly mixed feelings about it because it echoes the theatre itself, the wallpaper is the same as Wyndham’s own, and so is the carpet. I suppose the idea is that this is a theatrical family in a theatrical world, so the room looks like the inside of a theatre. I’m still in two minds about it.

In Act Two, we get party games where the guests are humiliated (though not quite as badly as in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), along with lovely bits of physical comedy, someone comes down in the morning to tap the barometer, which promptly falls off the wall. The chaos escalates, and it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that the guests all leave while the family is left having a row of their own.

This is a fabulous ensemble, and they’re all wonderful. Christine Baranski, I found, was slightly subdued on the press night I saw her, I felt it needed a touch more theatricality, though I’m sure she’ll settle into it, and her English accent is really very good indeed.

Coward’s work has been going through something of a repatriation lately, and this play has a history there: there was a legendary 1964 production with Dame Edith Evans as Judith Bliss. Maggie Smith was in that production too, and reportedly got a round of applause just for delivering the line, “This haddock is disgusting.” I can hear that line in her voice even now. On paper, it doesn’t really convey much, but in Maggie Smith’s hands, she could make absolutely anything funny.

It’s a really well-made play, a good old-fashioned one. If you like Noël Coward and want to see these two on stage for a lovely evening, this is the one for you. And if you can’t make it to the theatre, it’s just been announced that this is coming to NT Live early next year, and I suspect Christine Baranski’s performance may be better suited to this medium!

Hay Fever closes on 12th December, catch Baranski’s West End debut in the room before NT Live captures it for cinemas, EyeOnLondon advises.

For more London arts and culture, visit EyeOnLondon at eye-on-london.com.

[Image Credits | Marc Brenner]

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