Wessex Grove and Gavin Kalin Productions have announced that two-time Tony Award winner Christine Baranski will star as Judith Bliss, opposite Academy Award nominee Richard E. Grant as David Bliss, in a new production of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever.
Directed by Emily Burns, the production will play Wyndham’s Theatre, a Delfont Mackintosh Theatre, for a strictly limited season from 22 September to 12 December 2026, with a press night on 1 October 2026.
Tickets go on sale on Friday 17 April at 2.00pm.
The production marks Christine Baranski’s West End debut and Richard E. Grant’s return to the West End stage after a 20-year absence. Further casting and creative team details will be announced.
Christine Baranski said today “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 Noël 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!”
Richard E. Grant said today “25 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 Noël 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.”
In Hay Fever, recently retired actress Judith Bliss is bored of country life and desperate for applause. When she invites a young admirer to stay for the weekend, she is unaware that every other member of her household has done exactly the same.
As unannounced guests descend on the Bliss home, polite society rapidly disintegrates into theatrical chaos, parlour games and melodrama.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
