Ignorance Is Bliss

Hay Fever

Written by Noel Coward

Directed by Carl B.J. Fox

At the Lowell House JCR

Through this weekend

NOEL Coward's Hay Fever is a very witty, if fluffy, comedy of manners with distinct, offbeat characters. Unfortunately, the actors in the Lowell House production aren't always up to the demands of Coward's script.

The play is based on a stock premise. The members of the artistic and unconventional Bliss family have each invited one guest to their country home outside London for the weekend. The Blisses--Judith, David, Simon and Sorel--have romantic designs on their respective guests. As the weekend progresses the guests leave the Blisses who invited them and become blissfully involved with other Blisses.

Jeanne Simpson, who plays Judith, gives a stellar performance. Judith is an overly dramatic retired B-actress and Simpson plays her with just the right amount of dizziness combined with just a tad of michief.

Her ability to remain serious in the face of completely preposterous situations heightens the comic sense of the play. Particularly in the three-way confrontation scene between Judith, her husband David and Myra (Simon's girlfriend), Simpson's attitude of mock indignation is hilarious.

Andrew J. Hill is also wonderful as Simon Bliss. Hill is truly comic in the opening scene as he mixes an air of half-hearted interest with one of total indifference. His deadpan delivery adds to the humor of the play.

As Sorel, Jacobina Martin stands out. Sorel realizes that her family has plunged headlong into the abyss of eccentricity and wants to do something to improve the situation. Martin manages to portray both sides of her character well, shifting easily between the personalities of a pouting child and a semi-sophisticated young woman. She cries and whines a lot, but she gives her character a tragicomic aura that earns the audience's sympathies.

In spite of the clever script's vivid characters, the rest of the actors give uneven performances. Linda Klaamas, who plays the Clara the maid, has a few truly comic moments, but these brief seconds do not constitute a great performance.

Delia Ruby Graff (Myra) and Douglas McPeek (David Bliss) hit their high points in an intimate love scene in the second act. This small moment is over-shadowed by their otherwise lackluster performances.

For Conal Murray (Sandy) and Beth Norman (Jackie), these special moments never come. Both actors display little or no genuine emotion, use English accents which frequently fade and have difficulties speaking clearly.

Director Carl B.J. Fox manages to sustain Coward's comic pace, but only during the first two acts. Still, his valiant efforts, as well as those of Simpson, Hill and Martin, keep Hay Fever's ailments from proving fatal.