Hay Fever
By Noel Coward
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Jan. 9 – Feb. 3, 2013
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
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"An evening of intoxicating escape." – The New York Times
Hoping for a quiet weekend in the country with some guests, David Bliss, a novelist, and his wife Judith, a retired actress, find that an impossible dream when their high-spirited children Simon and Sorel appear with guests of their own.
A houseful of drama waits to be ignited as even the help proves helpless creating wild misunderstandings and flared tempers. The Bliss family lives up to its name as the "quiet weekend" turns into a nightmare, coming to an exhausting and hilarious finale worthy of a Feydeau farce. Misjudged meetings, secret seductions, and scandalous revelations all run riot at the most outrageous of all house parties.
"Light, luminous, charming, and hilariously funny." – New York Post
In The Know
Get a head start on your Noel Coward-ese, and check out director David M. Jenkins' Hay Fever Glossary of Terms at Blogsite Theater.
About the Artists
Playwright, composer, director and actor Noel Coward wrote Hay Fever in 1924. Coward wrote over 50 plays during his career including Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter, and Blithe Spirit. His many compositions include Mad Dogs and Englishmen, A Room with a View and Mrs. Worthington, and his film credits include Brief Encounter, The Vortex and The Italian Job. Coward was knighted in 1970 and passed away in 1973 at the age of 74.
Jobsite’s production is under the direction of Jobsite Producing Artistic Director David M. Jenkins, who has directed and starred in a number of wildly popular comedies over the years with Jobsite, and who is also currently writing a dissertation on comedy at USF. Hay Fever features scenic and lighting design by Brian Smallheer as well as costumes by three-time Best of the Bay Award winning designer Katrina Stevenson.
Hay Fever stars Katie Castonguay, Chris Jackson and Dana Kovar (all last seen in Fahrenheit 451), Caroline Jett (What the Butler Saw), Owen Robertson (Quills), Caitlin Eason (Blackbird), and Amy Gray, Michael C. McGreevy and Spencer Meyers (all most recently seen in Gorey Stories.)
See more about the cast and crew.