The latest in news from the cultural universe
Just For Culture
  • Home
  • Art & Literature
  • Music
  • Day & Nightlife
  • Film & TV
  • About Us & Contact

Theatre Review: Hay Fever - The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 14 March 2017

19/3/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
The latest run of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever at the Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre is a tale of two halves.
 
The play is set in the English county house of the Bliss family, whose quirks and eccentric nature are put in full public view when they each invite a guest to stay for the weekend.
 
Though we struggled through the overwhelming opening, an entertaining second act was a welcome counterbalance, and ultimately closed out the production to amiable applause.
 
Before the interval, the play drags through endless introductions, beige scripting and establishes the caricatured character list with often overblown zeal. The comedy of farce and aristocracy struggles to stir a laugh and drags out the predictable process of revealing how each of the Bliss’ invited a guest without the knowledge of the others.
 
To be perfectly honest, there just aren’t that many funny lines, and often when the comedy is meant to come from the awkward on-stage interactions, it’s instead the discomfort that seeped through to the audience.
Charlie Archer and Rosemary Boyle are endearing and easy to warm to as Simon Bliss and Jackie Coryton, but even their charming charisma is unable to alleviate the severity of at times cringe-worthy over-exaggeration. Nathan Ives-Moiba's painfully unsubtle Sandy Tyrell is the embodiment of this; over-the-top and really quite irritating.
 
After the interval though, having pigeon-holed every member of the cast in their respective personalities, the play was far more enjoyable. The actors were able to play around with their parts instead of having to push to establish themselves with every line.
 
Ives-Mobia was able to tone down his loud-mouth character and even Sandy was a welcome part of the final acts. Katie Barnett, who had previously seemed absent as Jackie Coryton, delivered some comic one-liners and Hywel Simons particularly impressed as the awkward Richard Greatham. Archer and Boyle continued to stand out.
 
As the witty writing finally arrived, the laughs came with it from the crowd, and the final moments of the production were really quite fantastic. It’s just a shame that the teething phase of the play lasted almost an hour after opening.
 
Stuart Kenny     2/5
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Art & Lit

    Reviews and news from the theatre and literature world, including short reviews of new books and old classics.

    Archives

    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    August 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    June 2013

    Categories

    All
    5 Things To Do
    Amsterdam
    Attractions
    Barcelona
    Beatlemania
    Best
    Canada
    Canucks
    Canvas
    China
    Chinatown
    Chinese
    Cirque Du Soleil
    Coffeshop
    Eat
    Edinburgh
    Edinburgh Playhouse
    Erick Villeneueve
    Food
    Guide
    Heineken
    Highlights
    Ice Hockey
    Immortal Chi
    Knowledge
    Let It Be
    Live
    Local
    London
    Museum
    Musical
    Music Festivals
    Neighbourhood
    News
    Phnom Penh
    Playhouse
    Red Light District
    Review
    Scotland
    Secrets
    Smoke
    Stage
    Theatre
    The Beatles
    Tour
    Travel
    UK
    United Kingdom
    Vancouver
    Vancouver Island
    Victoria
    Vincent Van Gogh
    West End

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.