[Next production] Noël Coward - Hay Fever

[Robin Whittleton]

I feel in the mood for a play, so let’s add another Noël Coward. Hay Fever is a three-act play, nothing particularly complicated in structure I don’t think.

Repo: https://github.com/robinwhittleton/noel-coward_hay-fever

Transcription: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75666

Scans: https://archive.org/details/bwb_S0-BGJ-861

The transcription and scans are the 1925 edition. Archive.org also has a later 1927 edition listed which has on the copyright page “Revised and re-written as an acting edition 1927 by Noël Coward”. Given that we make productions for readers primarily I think I’ll stick with what I’ve got, but I can do a comparison if people would want.

-Robin

[Alex Cabal]

OK, Emma will manage with Vince reviewing. Agreed on the edition

On 5/28/26 11:57 AM, Robin Whittleton wrote:
> I feel in the mood for a play, so let’s add another Noël Coward. /Hay
> Fever/ is a three-act play, nothing particularly complicated in

> structure I don’t think.
>

> Repo: https://github.com/robinwhittleton/noel-coward_hay-fever <https://
> github.com/robinwhittleton/noel-coward_hay-fever>
> Transcription: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75666 <https://
> www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75666>
> Scans: https://archive.org/details/bwb_S0-BGJ-861 <https://archive.org/
> details/bwb_S0-BGJ-861>
>
> The transcription and scans are the 1925 edition. Archive.org <http://
> Archive.org> also has a later 1927 edition <https://archive.org/details/
> bwb_KR-817-941> listed which has on the copyright page “Revised and re-

> written as an acting edition 1927 by Noël Coward”. Given that we make
> productions for readers primarily I think I’ll stick with what I’ve got,
> but I can do a comparison if people would want.
>
> -Robin
>

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[Robin Whittleton]

I’m mostly ready with this – the benefit of 12 hours on trains in 24 hours – so just looking for art. I’ve found another Ambrose McEvoy that could nicely represent Judith and uploaded it to https://standardebooks.org/artworks/ambrose-mcevoy/the-hon-mrs-cecil-baring, but it doesn’t quite match the comedic feeling of the play so I’m keeping her as a fallback and will keep on searching.

-Robin

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[Robin Whittleton]

Another option: a portrait of the actor that the main part was written for (submitted to https://standardebooks.org/artworks/william-nicholson/marie-tempest). The time isn’t quite right, as to only painting I can find was painted in 1903 rather than the twenties, but as a good chunk of the play is Judith looking back to her former glories it could work. I prefer this to my first option anyway, but I’ll keep looking just in case anything better comes up.

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[Robin Whittleton]

OK, given up on the search and gone with Halloween (https://standardebooks.org/artworks/howard-chandler-christy/halloween) – thanks Lukas – as a good generic party scene.

So after that, this is ready for you to review Vince.

-Robin

On 1 Jun 2026, at 18:35, Robin Whittleton <ro...@reala.net> wrote:

Another option: a portrait of the actor that the main part was written for (submitted to https://standardebooks.org/artworks/william-nicholson/marie-tempest). The time isn’t quite right, as to only painting I can find was painted in 1903 rather than the twenties, but as a good chunk of the play is Judith looking back to her former glories it could work. I prefer this to my first option anyway, but I’ll keep looking just in case anything better comes up.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/9ADB4F11-8309-4C0B-B227-AC40B278FA43%40reala.net.

[Vince]

All right, I have another one in front of this and family in from out of the country, so it will be a few days.

[Vince]

Excellent work as usual, Robin, only one thing to address and one question/comment.

[Vince]

This is ready for you, Alex.

This play has information on the Acts in the dramatis personae. I could only find one other play like that (Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance), so it may not be worth standardizing, but they’re done very differently, so it might be. :)

[Alex Cabal]

The long description is a little confusing - if the Blisses are a family
living in the same house, how are they each an "independent family"? I
don't understand that sentence. Also, did they each invite the *same*
guest? Or is the setup that it's expected that only one "family" at a
time invites a guest, but that this weekend each family happened to
invite a guest?

On 6/7/26 8:43 AM, Vince wrote:
> This <https://github.com/robinwhittleton/noel-coward_hay-fever.git> is

> ready for you, Alex.
>
> This play has information on the Acts in the dramatis personae. I could

> only find one other play like that (Wilde’s /A Woman of No Importance/),

> so it may not be worth standardizing, but they’re done very differently,
> so it might be. :)
>

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[Robin Whittleton]

The situation is that the youngest is 18 so they all have their own lives and without consulting anyone else in the family they’ve each invited a different guest over for the weekend. To quote Sorel: “We’re an independent family⁠—we entertain our friends sort of separately.”

Anyway, I’ve tweaked it slightly. Is the current wording more obvious?

-Robin

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[Alex Cabal]

OK, much better. I've released it, thanks!

I tweaked the dramatis personae to remove dt/dd. I don't think it quite
felt right for this usage.