Wyndham’s theatre, London Grant brings shock-haired vigour as a vain novelist forced to welcome his boho children’s surprise guests in comedy of clipped social embarrassment Hay Fever, now one of Noël Coward’s best-known and most-performed works, hasn’t always been a smash hit. British critics who found its West End debut in 1925 amusing enough nevertheless noted its lack of plot, and the first Broadway production was a flop. A critic for Vogue called it “funny in places”, which sounds like the kind of stinging putdown you’d expect from the playwright’s own hand. A century of performances have proved the play’s lasting power, but its comic effect has always lain less in the words as written than their delivery – it is, after all, about a family that is “artificial to the point of lunacy”. At their centre is diva Judith Bliss, who has retired from the stage to take up the role of country hostess. When she, her husband and their self-consciously bohemian childre...
There are worse problems to have than an overreliance on Bukayo Saka, but title hopefuls need to be able to mix things up
Where’s the wanker with the drum, the West Ham supporters asked with 10 minutes left at the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal 2-0 down – a question followed by huge cheers as the drum in the home end was bonged defiantly in response.
Like Arsenal’s players, the drum guy never let up here, never tired, never let his levels drop. But like Arsenal’s players he also only really seemed to have one tune; a riff that everyone on the pitch, opponents included, has heard a little too much already over the past two seasons.
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