Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant to star in Noel Coward’s Hay Fever
By Laura Harding, Entertainment Editor
Christine Baranski will make her West End debut opposite Richard E Grant in a revival of Noel Coward’s comedy Hay Fever.
The US actress, best known for her roles in The Good Wife and its spin-off The Good Fight, as well as Mamma Mia and The Gilded Age, will play retired actress Judith Bliss in a “stinging new production”.
Grant will return to the West End stage for the first time in 20 years to play her reclusive novelist husband David Bliss in the country house-set comedy, which premiered in the West End in 1925.
It focuses on four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their obnoxious and outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend.
Baranski said: “I attended my first West End play as a student at Juilliard in 1971, so it’s rather a dream come true to perform at Wyndham’s Theatre in a Noel Coward play in the West End.
“I look forward to a life in London, a city I absolutely adore.
“I last performed on stage 20 years ago, and coincidentally, Richard E Grant last performed in the West End 20 years ago!
“Richard is so gifted, whip smart, and wickedly funny. I look forward to ‘tearing a passion to tatters’ with him alongside our brilliant director, Emily Burns.
“Hay Fever is a 101-year-old comedy of appalling manners. It requires quicksilver delivery and suave flamboyance. I hope it will be a delicious treat for audiences to spend time with this Blissful Bohemian family!”
Grant added: “Twenty-five years ago, I guest-starred for a night in The Play What I Wrote at the beautiful Wyndham’s Theatre.
“I am delighted to return to the Wyndham’s stage (and maybe to a bigger dressing room) alongside the sensational Christine Baranski in Noel Coward’s delicious comedy, Hay Fever, which premiered in the West End 101 years ago (but who’s counting?).
“I love the theatre and am thrilled to return to it, and to be directed by the illustrious Emily Burns.”
Hay Fever will run at the Wyndham’s Theatre from September 22nd to December 12th, 2026, with a press night on October 1st.