Richard E Grant and Christine Baranski in Hay Fever [Marc Brenner]

NOËL Coward’s 1924 comedy of bad manners, Hay Fever, has a single setting and a paper-thin plot, so it needs an extraordinary cast to carry it off.

Judith Bliss (Christine Baranski) is bored. Retired from the stage, she misses the attention of an adoring crowd. Her husband David (Richard E Grant) is a reclusive, self-absorbed novelist, while their two adult children, Sorrel (Ophelia Lovibond) and Simon (Will Close), still live at home.

Languishing in their country pile in Cookham, Berkshire, Judith has invited a young admirer, Sandy Tyrell (Ash Hunter), to stay for the weekend. Unfortunately, the rest of the family have also invited guests – Nancy Carroll, Charles Edwards and Lucy Karczewski complete the quartet of awkward visitors.

Clara (Jo McInnes), the housekeeper, is in despair as they all descend: there’s little food in the house and the parlour maid has toothache.

Much of Coward’s comedy comes from the silly parlour games the family play and the performative rituals that leave their guests bewildered.

This, together with the mismatched flirtations, leads to a farcical second half. Baranski, Grant and the rest of the cast give it their all, vividly capturing the sense of an eccentric family trying, a little too hard, to be bohemian.

And yet, for all the quick wit and clever jibes, Emily Burns’ production, played out on Frankie Bradshaw’s elegant drawing-room set, complete with French windows and piano, feels static.

Despite the high-calibre cast, the play feels dated, and watching snobbish narcissists misbehave begins to pall after a while.

Until December 12
hayfeverplay.com/