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By Noel Coward Reviews DELIGHTFUL
'HAY FEVER' NOT TO BE SNEEZED AT ...armed with some of the play's funniest lines, Poirier takes charge of every scene she's in. This role plays to her proven talents for evincing the diva. ...overall, a fast-paced treat of an evening at the theater. ...is set in a period room designed by Craig Robinson with an intentionally eclectic decor... ...this family knows how to have some fun and, as the characters pair off for their various and hilarious little romances, the laughs pile up. When the guests finally realize they've been "played" and the Blisses go off into their own sort of theatrical Nirvana, it's one of the great moments in comedy and this GT production, directed by Brian P. Allen and Robert Fish, brings it all home in a perfectly delightful way. FIND
YOUR BLISS... SNEEZING WITH LAUGHTER AT HAY FEVER First of all, young Sorel Bliss (Jessica Peck, with lovely, blithe arrogance) has invited a diplomatist named Richard (Stephen Underwood) to the house for the weekend, and one would think he would come in handy as the house fills. Her brother Simon (agile Ian Carlsen) has also entreated a visit from his own current interest, the socialite widow Myra Arundel (Elizabeth Chambers, utterly and exquisitely blasé). Then there are the heads of the house. Sorel and Simon's mother Judith (the formidable Denise Poirier), a retired stage actress, has invited fresh-faced ingénue boxer Sandy (Brian Chamberlain) for a little rejuvenation. Finally, Bliss père David (Tony Reilly), a self-absorbed novelist, has called upon a flighty flapper (Carolyn Turner) for his own weekend inspiration. This Allen/Fish cast is as scintillating as I've come to expect from the virtuoso Good Theater, and it's particularly fun to see actors from elsewhere in the theater community, like Reilly, Carlsen, and Chambers, working alongside Good Theater regulars like Underwood, Peck, and Poirier. ...its success is in its characters and repartee, and the Good Theater's actors make them buoyantly entertaining. This production of Hay Fever, another in the growing list of Good Theater tours de force, makes gleefully scandalous haymaking of this weekend of Bliss. Cast & Crew Directed by Brian P. Allen & Robert Fish
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