Hay Fever

Written by Noël Coward

Narrated by Tate Donovan, Arabella Field, Joy Gregory and 6 more

A country house weekend goes haywire when the guests and their hosts play a game of romantic musical chairs. A most delightful madcap comedy.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Tate Donovan, Arabella Field, Joy Gregory, Jeffrey Jones, Lynne Marta, Serena Scott Thomas, Carolyn Seymour, Eric Stoltz and Simon Templeman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.A. Theatre Works
• Release date: Jul 2, 2001
• ISBN: 9781580814553

Noël Coward

Noel Coward was born in 1899 in Teddington, Middlesex. He made his name as a playwright with The Vortex (1924), in which he also appeared. His numerous other successful plays included Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Private Lives (1933), Design for Living (1933), and Blithe Spirit (1941). During the war he wrote screenplays such as Brief Encounter (1944) and This Happy Breed (1942). In the fifties he started a new career as a cabaret entertainer. He published volumes of verse and a novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), two volumes of autobiography, and four volumes of short stories: To Step Aside (1939), Star Quality (1951), Pretty Polly Barlow (1964), and Bon Voyage (l967). Coward was knighted in 1970 and died three years later in Jamaica.

[Liz Burdick · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Just listened to the Oscar Wilde collection by LATW. It was much better. The combination of the play itself and the pitch of the actors was grating.

[ronophonic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What delightful chaos! What delightful characters! Noel Coward's dialogue bristles. Absolutely superb performances from the entire cast! Kudos!

[kirstiecat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, I think this may have been the weakest of the three plays in the collection, perhaps because it follows a typical comedy of errors with a family each having a lover and all of the lovers switching and also getting a bit fed up with the self absorbed aristocratic family. This would probably make for a hysterical play when performed but it's easy to get annoyed with its predictability while reading it.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I enjoyed this full cast audiobook of the play, I didn't find it as funny as I expected. Perhaps it needed the visual aspect - I will have to see if I can find a video or film of this online somewhere.