Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Northam, Kevin McNally and Olivia Colman are to star in Noël Coward’s Hay Fever at, appropriately, the Noël Coward theatre, from 10 February (press night 23 February).
Howard Davies’s production reunites the director with Duncan, whom he previously directed in a 2001 production of Coward’s Private Lives, also at the Noël Coward theatre (then called the Albery). Duncan earned a Best Actress Olivier Award for her performance, beating herself in the process; she was also nominated for Mouth To Mouth.
In Hay Fever, Duncan plays the iconic role of Judith Bliss, once the star of the London stage and now regularly injecting drama into her retirement. To spice up her weekend, she invites a young suitor to join her in the country, but her novelist husband and two children also have the same idea. The result of this inadvertent house party is a weekend of misjudged meetings, secret seductions and scandalous revelations.
In addition to Private Lives, Duncan’s numerous stage outings include the Davies-directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses, for which she won her first Olivier Award, The Homecoming and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the National Theatre, Top Girls and Ashes To Ashes at the Royal Court and the multi-award-winning That Face at the Royal Court and West End.
Northam, who plays Richard Greatham, returns to the West End for the first time since Old Times at the Donmar Warehouse in 2004. His stage work also includes The Voysey Inheritance at the National Theatre and several productions for the RSC, though he is better known for his screen work, which includes films Glorious 39, Gosford Park, Emma, An Ideal Husband and TV series The Tudors.
McNally (David Bliss) has numerous stage credits including Hamlet and Ivanov as part of the Donmar West End season, and The Lady In The Van and Boeing Boeing in the West End. He is well known for playing Joshamee Gibbs in The Pirates Of The Caribbean films.
Colman (Myra Arundel) made her name in comedy television shows Peep Show and Green Wing. Since then she has appeared on stage in productions including England People Very Nice at the National Theatre and can be seen in the just-released film Tyrannosaur.
One of Coward’s most popular plays, Hay Fever was last staged in the West End by Peter Hall in 2006, starring Judi Dench as Judith, with Belinda Lang, Peter Bowles and Dan Stevens. Celia Imrie starred as Judith in a production at the Rose theatre, Kingston, last year.
Coward made his stage debut at the venue that now bears his name in 1920. This production marks the first time that a Coward play has been staged there since the theatre changed its name to commemorate him in 2006.
The venue is currently hosting musical Million Dollar Quartet, which ends its run on 14 January.
CB