[NEohioPAL] Preview of "Hay Fever" at GLTF

[Bob Abelman]

Case of 'Hay Fever' breaks out in Chardon

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This preview appeared in the News-Herald 5/7/10

 

Plays with little plot, even less emotional depth, no redeeming social value and superficial characters are not the types of plays that normally attract director Patricia Osredkar.  

 

"Not unless they are written by Noel Coward," she admits, "in which case they are my favorite things.  And Hay Fever is my most favorite of all."  

 

Noel Coward's raucous 1924 comedy features the wonderfully dysfunctional, outrageously vapid Bliss family.  The eccentric Blisses are comprised of aristocratic artists, Judith and David, and their ne'er-do-well adult children, the ill-tempered Simon and moody Sorel.  Their collective rudeness and poor manners have no borders and their self-absorption knows no bounds.  

 

The play, opening tonight on the Geauga Theater stage by the Geauga Lyric Theater Guild, is a comedic case study in bad behavior.  It is set into motion when each Bliss secretly invites a friend to stay in the same guest room in their opulent home for the weekend.  Under the stress of over crowdedness in the bizarre boiler cooker that is the Bliss household, the chasm between decency and depravity, rudeness and courtesy, and restraint and abandon is fully exposed.  Just for the fun of it.

 

Hay Fever is a delightful, lightweight contagion. Its hilarity is airborne, carried through Coward's brilliant use of language.  As such, Osredkar says, "it is one of the hardest shows to direct.  It requires really good acting to make these characters likable and to deliver the humor with subtlety."

 

In the wrong hands and with the wrong actors, the elegance of Coward's words can get lost in the laughs and his sophisticated witticisms can be easily overplayed.



"I've been blessed with a stupendous cast who get Coward," says Osredkar.  "Here are people who listen to each other and keep discovering new layers to this work.  It is a very funny play that keeps getting funnier with each rehearsal."      

 

Sue Beattie plays Judith, the matriarch and former actress who has never quite left the stage.  John Hazard is David, the patriarch and novelist.  Their children are being played by Shane Wolhken and Nicole Celebucki.  

 

Portraying the dotty maid, Clara, is Lyn Phoenix while the fish-out-of-water weekend guests-the true Hay Fever sufferers-are played by Randy Hansen, Angela Miloro, Michael McArthur and Sioux Resetar.

 

Details

 

What:     Hay Fever.

When:    Tonight through May 23 (8pm Friday and Saturday, 2pm Sunday). 

Where:   Geauga Theater, 101 Water Street, Chardon.

Tickets:   $13 to $15.

Info:        440-286-2255 or www.geuagatheater.org.
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