Hay Fever by Noel Coward, directed by Kevin Kelly

Performances:

November 2 to 17, 2018. Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm. And there will be one extra special Sunday Performance during this run TBD.

Auditions:

Take place on August 23 and 24, 2018 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Please sign up at

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/5080E49A9AD29A2FC1-hayfever

Location:

Bethel Luthern Church

3852 Everett Road

Richfield, Ohio 44286

Callbacks:

Take place at Western Reserve Playhouse from 2 pm to 4 pm.

Preparation:

Cold readings from the script.

Rehearsals:

Begin Monday October 1 at 6:30 pm. Rehearsals will normally run Sunday through Thursday 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

THE PLAY
Hay Fever is a wonderful cross between high farce and an English comedy of bad manners. The play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behavior when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. Each – unbeknownst to the rest – invites down a house guest for a quiet weekend! The self-centered behavior of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee, while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure.

Hay Fever takes place in the comfortable English country house of the Bliss family. Judith, the mother, is a retired stage actress; David, the father, is a novelist. Their grown children, Simon and Sorel, still live at home. As the play opens, Simon and Sorel are exchanging insults about mutual friends and speculating that their mother is up to something in inviting a young man – who turns out to be called Sandy Tyrell – to the house for the weekend.

Meanwhile, Sorel has invited the diplomat Richard Greatham, while Simon adds to the growing household with his guest Myra Arundel. Finally, David comes downstairs from his study to add one last visitor to the list – a young woman named Jackie Coryton.

After some internecine squabble and banter, Judith announces her decision to come out of retirement and revive one of her greatest hits, Love’s Whirlwind. As she and the children begin to perform one of their favorite scenes from the play, they are interrupted by the arrival of their guests. The family members greet their visitors and then leave them to fend for themselves.

And that is just Act One!

 

THE CHARACTERS (5F, 4M)
Judith Bliss – an actress of a certain age who has retired (several times) from the stage.
David Bliss – her husband, a writer of novels that the entire family argue about; inclined to a little dalliance on the side
Simon Bliss – their son, a painter of aggressive daubs 
Sorel Bliss – their daughter, an accomplished instrumentalist (but skills NOT required, though welcome!)
Both of the children are every bit as theatrical, as egomaniacal in the nicest possible way, as their parents.

Richard Greatham – a career diplomat who “always says something exquisitely diplomatic”
Myra Arundel – a society lady of whom Judith says “she uses sex like a shrimping net”
Sandy Tyrell – a younger “anyone for tennis” sporty chap who has fallen in love with Judith having seen her in some dreadful melodrama
Jackie Coryton – a scared little thing who has been picked by the husband David

Clara – the long-suffering maid, who used to be Judith’s dresser, and is quite coarse with it