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...
Contest being treated as a general election bellwether and some MPs fear ‘complete annihilation’ will spark further Conservative rebellion
The local elections on 2 May have long been regarded as a moment of high peril for Rishi Sunak, with the results likely to anticipate his party’s fate at the next election.
“My colleagues are feeling very restless,” admits one moderate Tory MP. “Rishi needs to show us that the general election isn’t already lost. If we lose the mayoralties in May then I’m afraid we could be on course for a total wipeout. It could be very dangerous for him.”
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Ub1nxNJ
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment