IT is becoming increasingly difficult to enter the stage world of Noel Coward, watching actors playing artificial people acting their heads off. Hay Fever, now showing at Andrews Lane Studio, is a classic example clever construction, kookie characters, nicely clipped dialogue - but dated to the point where laughter is unduly restrained.
Each of the Bliss family novelist father, ex-actress mother, already eccentric son and daughter - invites a weekend guest to their country house without informing the others. When they arrive, an orgy of guest swapping takes place, and the hapless visitors find themselves immersed in romantic intrigues they had not bargained for.
The author's sheer expertise redeems it from boredom, and gives the cast a chance to show its commendable paces. Denise Waters as the daughter and Janine Fitzgerald as the mother have the best opportunities, and shine rather more brightly than their colleagues. John Hickey, Louis Lovett, Orla Tuthill, Ciaran Kelly, Joan Walker, Shane Conaty and Lydia Mulvey are all in harmony with the plot and each other: a good ensemble.
Jim Rymer's paced direction has the benefit of an excellent set design by Jeff Grey, and gets most of what there is to be had from this grand old chestnut. It is very difficult for others to emulate the strangled elocution inflicted by the English upper classes on their own language, but he has imposed a working substitute on his actors which creates the right atmosphere.
