HAY FEVER opens April 29 and runs until May 15, 2016, on the Lohrey Stage at Theatre Memphis.
Each member of the eccentric Bliss family invites a guest to their country house and exposes their self-centered world that slides much too easily from reality into madcap fiction. Family melodramas and hysteria cause the visitors to band together to plot their escape, unnoticed by the feuding relatives.
Jerry Chipman helms this production of Coward's play that,"...epitomizes the sophisticated wit of a bygone era," Chipman states. That wit only truly existed in the theatrical sense, according to Chipman, that included, "... a heightened aura of glib cleverness with an emphasis on surface charm, witty repartee and an elevated importance given to the trivial." As a comedy of manners, as HAY FEVER is most often labeled, the unsuspecting houseguests seek separation from the Bohemian inclined arty Bliss family who have no manners. Chipman laughingly adds, "Eccentricity is the norm."
The cast has many who have graced the TM stage before including, as the Bliss family, Christina Wellford Scott, Greg Fletcher, Lena Wallace Black and Gabe Buetel-Gunn. The players are rounded out by Jen Chervenick Fitzgerald, Evan McCarley, Danielle Carr, Kinon Kiplinger and Martha Graber.
Executive Producer Debbie Litch praises the show as being one for the community to be truly entertained by the antics. "There is always a place for the crazy distraction of a Noel Coward comedy," Litch says. "The very idea of a 'show' family being so self-involved is not really stranger than truth. I think we all may see someone we know in this one, " she smiles.
IF YOU GO:
HAY FEVER
WRITTEN BY: Noel Coward
DIRECTOR: Jerry Chipman
VENUE AND ADDRESS: Theatre Memphis on the Lohrey Stage, 630 Perkins Ext, Memphis, TN, 38117
RUN DATES: April 29 - May 15, 2016
TIMES OF SHOWS: Thursdays @ 7:30pm, Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm, matinees @ 2pm on Sundays
TICKETS: $25 adults, $15 students
BOX OFFICE: 901.682.8323 or online at www.theatrememphis.org
Theatre Memphis is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization located at 630 Perkins Extended (corner of Perkins Extended and Southern) and is a community theatre whose mission is to provide outstanding theatrical experiences to enrich the lives of our audiences and participants.
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