Welcome to Huntingdon Drama Club’s production of
Hay Fever
Directing ‘Hay Fever’ marks my return to Huntingdon Drama Club after a
brief hiatus that ended up lasting about three years! I’m very pleased to
find the Club lively and vibrant – and full of new faces. However, I’m
probably the ‘new face’ to many of you, so I’ll give you a quick résumé.
I first joined Huntingdon Drama Club back in the mists of time (actually
about 11 years ago), having been previously involved with amateur
dramatics in London, Godmanchester and Vancouver (yes, the one in
Canada). I appeared in several HDC productions, of which my favourite
was ‘The Real Inspector Hound’. I also directed three plays for the Club.
It’s hard to pick my favourite there, because one was the incredibly funny
and surreal ‘Picasso at the Lapin Agile’ by Steve Martin, but the other two
were (in the words of Ernie Wise) ‘plays wot I wrote’. I am proudest of the
last one, ‘Worlds Apart’, which seriously threatened to out-surreal Steve
Martin.
It’s great to return to directing, which I adore and have missed. I must
praise my stellar cast and crew, who have worked very hard whilst (I hope!)
enjoying themselves. I’d run out of space if I tried to name everyone who
has helped, but I want to record a special thank you to my Producer, Ann
Monk, who has relieved me of all the tiresome details and relentlessly
dotted all the ‘I’s and crossed all the ‘T’s. Thanks also to Brampton Drama
Club and OCAG for inviting us to put on this production.
Noël Coward designated ‘Hay Fever’ a ‘light comedy’, and that it is, with
plenty of opportunity for histrionics and what is best described as
sophisticated farce. Directing this has been a challenge – as you have
probably surmised, it is not my usual choice of play. In its own way,
however, it too is surreal. And very funny. You will see a family of drama
queens take centre stage – much to the consternation of their hapless
weekend guests. Very quickly, the fine line between real life and high
blown fantasy begins to flicker and fade. (Hmmm – perhaps my sort of
play, after all.) As is typical of works by Noël Coward, the wit is fast and
furious so, in a line from the Queen of Drama Queens, Bette Davis, ‘Fasten
your seatbelts – it’s going to be a bumpy night’. And enjoy.
Valerie Gerrard
Director
A Selective Coward Chronology
1899
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1917
1922
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1960
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1973
Born on 16 December in Teddington, Middlesex
Made first stage appearance
Ida Collaborates (written with Esmé Wynne) produced on a British
tour
Wrote songs and sketches for the revue London Calling!
Appeared in London Calling! Wrote The Vortex and Fallen Angels
Directed and appeared in The Vortex. Wrote Hay Fever and Easy
Virtue
Hay Fever and Fallen Angels produced in London, Easy Virtue in
USA
Easy Virtue produced in London
The Vortex and Easy Virtue filmed
Completed operetta Bitter Sweet. Wrote Private Lives
Appeared in Private Lives
Wrote Design for Living
Wrote Tonight at 8.30
Wrote Present Laughter and This Happy Breed
Wrote and directed Blithe Spirit. Wrote screenplay for In Which
We Serve
Co-produced film of Blithe Spirit. Wrote screenplay for Brief
Encounter (based on Still Life from Tonight at 8.30)
Wrote Nude with Violin
Novel Pomp and Circumstance published
Directed High Spirits (musical of Blithe Spirit) in USA and Hay
Fever in Britain
Died on 26 March at his home in Jamaica
Coward’s 281 songs include
Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Mad about the Boy
Don’t put your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs Worthington
The Stately Homes of England
I Went to a Marvellous Party
I’ll see you again