Hay Fever (Modern Classics)

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Encouraged by his ambitious mother, who sent him to a dance academy in London, [7] Coward's first professional engagement was in January 1911 as Prince Mussel in the children's play The Goldfish. [8] In Present Indicative, his first volume of memoirs, Coward wrote: Between 1929 and 1936 Coward recorded many of his best-known songs for His Master's Voice (HMV), now reissued on CD, including the romantic " I'll See You Again" from Bitter Sweet, the comic " Mad Dogs and Englishmen" from Words and Music, and "Mrs Worthington". [69] Second World War [ edit ] Historic England, "Teddington Library (1396400)", National Heritage List for England , accessed 3 July 2014 An American critic, Burns Mantle, wrote, "why it is called Hay Fever I have not the slightest notion, unless it is because it may give you a headache". [59] He predicted that the play would have little appeal to audiences "beyond the Vanity Fair crowd that has taken up the fascinating Mr Coward with such enthusiasm". [60] Even Cole Lesley's 1976 biography refers to Coward as "Noel": "...I have also forgone the use of his beloved diaeresis over the 'e' in his name, having no wish to dizzy the eye of the reader." [151]

Mander, Raymond; Mitchenson, Joe; Day, Barry; Morley, Sheridan (2000) [1957]. Theatrical Companion to Coward (seconded.). London: Oberon. ISBN 978-1-84002-054-0. The play covers a 20-year period from June 1919, when the Gibbons family move into their new home near London's Clapham Common, to when they move out in June 1939. Tynan's was the first generation of critics to realise that Coward's plays might enjoy more than ephemeral success. In the 1930s, Cyril Connolly wrote that they were "written in the most topical and perishable way imaginable, the cream in them turns sour overnight". [189] What seemed daring in the 1920s and 1930s came to seem old-fashioned in the 1950s, and Coward never repeated the success of his pre-war plays. [45] By the 1960s, critics began to note that underneath the witty dialogue and the Art Deco glamour of the inter-war years, Coward's best plays also dealt with recognisable people and familiar relationships, with an emotional depth and pathos that had been often overlooked. [190] By the time of his death, The Times was writing of him, "None of the great figures of the English theatre has been more versatile than he", and the paper ranked his plays in "the classical tradition of Congreve, Sheridan, Wilde and Shaw". [50] In late 1999 The Stage ran what it called a "millennium poll" of its readers to name the people from the world of theatre, variety, broadcasting or film who have most influenced the arts and entertainment in Britain: Shakespeare came first, followed by Coward in second place. [191] Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 1899–26 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise". [1]Coward completed a one-act satire, The Better Half, about a man's relationship with two women. It had a short run at The Little Theatre, London, in 1922. The critic St John Ervine wrote of the piece, "When Mr Coward has learned that tea-table chitter-chatter had better remain the prerogative of women he will write more interesting plays than he now seems likely to write." [36] The play was thought to be lost until a typescript was found in 2007 in the archive of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, the official censor of stage plays in the UK until 1968. [37] Ambassadors Theatre", The Daily Telegraph, 9 June 1928, p. 8; and "Criterion Theatre", The Daily Telegraph, 8 September 1925, p. 12 Evangeline Julia Marshall, eccentric society hostess (1854–1944), married Clement Paston Astley Cooper, grandson of Sir Astley Paston Cooper, on 10 July 1877. She inherited Hambleton Hall from her brother Walter Marshall on his death in 1899, and there she entertained rising talents in the artistic world, including, in addition to Coward, the painter Philip Streatfeild, [4] the conductor Malcolm Sargent, [5] and the writer Charles Scott Moncrieff, who dedicated his translation of Proust's Swann's Way to her. [6] When staying with the Astley Coopers, Coward kept careful notes of what his hostess said and how she said it, and much of the dialogue for Hay Fever (and other early Coward plays) appears to be derived directly from these notes. [7] She said she went to his plays "because it amuses me to hear my remarks put into the mouths of actors". [8]

Noël Coward himself said of 'Hay Fever', '[It] is considered by many to be my best comedy' and 'far and away one of the most difficult plays to perform that I have ever encountered. To begin with, it has no plot at all, and remarkably little action.' Perhaps he was understating it there for, while the play is not gung-ho full of action, there is plenty going on. It must have had something for, when first staged on 8 June 1925 it ran for 337 performances! Coward maintained close friendships with many women, including the actress and author Esmé Wynne-Tyson, his first collaborator and constant correspondent; Gladys Calthrop, who designed sets and costumes for many of his works; his secretary and close confidante Lorn Loraine; the actresses Gertrude Lawrence, Joyce Carey and Judy Campbell; and "his loyal and lifelong amitié amoureuse", Marlene Dietrich. [137] Set in a retirement home for actresses, Waiting in the Wings focuses on a feud between residents Lotta Bainbridge and May Davenport, who once both loved the same man. Hay Fever", Daily News, 9 June 1925, p. 4; and "At The Ambassadors", The Tatler, 1 July 1925, p. 20Billington, Michael (27 August 2014). " Hay Fever review – hysteria rules as Felicity Kendal does Coward". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 18 October 2023. Mander, Raymond; Joe Mitchenson (2000) [1957]. Theatrical Companion to Coward. Barry Day and Sheridan Morley (2000 edition, ed.) (seconded.). London: Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-84002-054-0. Coward retained a liking for the earlier title and used it for one of the plays – a serious one – in his cycle Tonight at 8.30 in 1936. [11] He soon became more cautious about overdoing the flamboyance, advising Cecil Beaton to tone down his outfits: "It is important not to let the public have a loophole to lampoon you." [159] However, Coward was happy to generate publicity from his lifestyle. [160] In 1969 he told Time magazine, "I acted up like crazy. I did everything that was expected of me. Part of the job." Time concluded, "Coward's greatest single gift has not been writing or composing, not acting or directing, but projecting a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise." [1] From the age of 14, he had some sort of relationship with 36-year-old artist, Philip Streatfeild – possibly sexual – before Streatfeild died of trench fever in World War One. Coward's other close friend, John Ekins, also died in the war. In 1918, at the age of 18, Coward had a nervous breakdown in an army training camp before seeing any action, and was hospitalised for six weeks.