‘Hay Fever’

Shakespeare ’70 romps through Noel Coward’s comedy.

By: Stuart Duncan

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Clockwise from top left: Tom Curbishley, Patrick Albanesius, Elizabeth Hults


and Janet Quartarone appear in Shakespeare ’70’s ‘Hay Fever.’


   Noel Coward once wrote: "I can take any amount of criticism, as long as it is unqualified praise." How pleased he will be, wherever he is, at this report of Shakespeare ’70’s romp through one of his more difficult works — Hay Fever.
   The work is a comedy of appallingly bad manners in which words become almost physical weapons. It begins with the arrival of four guests, invited independently by the members of the Bliss family, for a weekend at their country manor house near Maidenhead. The four are alternately amused, ignored, humiliated and eventually abandoned to slink away during a blazing family row. Biographers have assured us that the play rests securely on events at the New York Riverside Drive home of actress Laurette Taylor, her husband Hartley Manners and their two children. That would seem to back up Coward’s own admission that "I am only grateful to Fate that no guest of the Hartley Manners’ thought of writing ‘Hay Fever’ before I did."
   Shakespeare ’70 director Frank Erath has headed his cast with two of the best classical actresses in the area. Carol Kehoe plays Judith Bliss, the matriarch who is seriously contemplating returning to the stage after a very brief absence. Meanwhile she practices past and future dialogue on the entire household. Janet Quartarone plays Myra Arundel, one of the guests who might well be a match for her if Coward has given her the tiniest hint of a chance. Each of our ladies can toss a quip across the room with considerable gusto. Ms. Kehoe can observe, almost in passing: "She uses sex as a sort of shrimping net" and not only gets the laugh she is seeking, but a bit of a shiver as well.
   Kurt Penney seems exactly right as David Bliss, the husband and father who might earn the family income, but struggles for any sort of respect and is mostly ignored by his children — Sorel (played by Melissa Evans) and Simon (Curt Foxworth). Both take immense pleasure in savaging any outsiders — and themselves — but always with tongue firmly in cheek and seemingly without malice. Even the family maid, Clara, formerly Mrs. Bliss’s dresser, is securely aware of all of the dialogue and frequently mouths the deprecations right along with her mistress. Together, as a group, they exhibit the sheer joy of behaving badly.
   The guests have a somewhat more difficult job since each has to not only resist the onslaught but do it in character. Tom Curbishley tries to be diplomatic, balanced, constantly trying to please and appease. Patrick Albanesius answers with child-like puppy adoration; Elizabeth Hults with youthful innocence and the aforementioned Ms. Quartarone with knowing acidity. All fail, of course, but maintain both that celebrated British "stiff upper lip" and reasonably good accents. Director Erath has paced the evening as Coward always should be — with vigor and a great sense of style.
Hay Fever continues at Kendall Hall, The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Road, Ewing, through Feb. 20. Performances: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tickets cost $12, $10 seniors, $6 students. For information, call (609) 882-5979. On the Web: www.shakespeare70.org