Full Company Announced for West End Hay Fever with Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant
The full cast has been revealed for a new West End production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever, led by Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant at Wyndham's Theatre. The production, directed by Emily Burns, runs from 22 September to 12 December 2026, with a press night — the performance reviewed by critics — on 1 October. WhatsOnStage
Baranski plays Judith Bliss, a retired actress, with Grant as her husband David Bliss. The role marks Baranski's West End debut, according to the production's presenter, Delfont Mackintosh. Delfont Mackintosh
The company fills out with Nancy Carroll as Myra Arundel, Will Close as Simon Bliss, Charles Edwards as Richard Greatham, Ophelia Lovibond as Sorel Bliss, Ash Hunter as Sandy Tyrell, Lucy Karczewski as Jackie Coryton and Jo McInnes as Clara. Rounding out the cast are Helena Antoniou, Charlotte Avery and Shaun Mendum. WhatsOnStage
Grant is an Academy Award nominee, a detail noted across multiple outlets when the production was first announced in April. Variety
Behind the scenes, the creative team includes set and costume designer Frankie Bradshaw, lighting designer Oliver Fenwick, sound designer Tingying Dong, fight and intimacy director Bethan Clark, dialect coach Danièle Lydon, associate director Blythe Stewart and casting directors Jim Carnahan and Liz Fraser. WhatsOnStage
Additional tickets have been released, priced from £30. WhatsOnStage also published a first-look photo of Baranski and Grant in character back in June. WhatsOnStage
Coward wrote Hay Fever in 1924, setting it in the country house of the Bliss family, whose theatrical antics unravel across a weekend with bemused guests. The play has been a recurring presence in the West End and is one of Coward's most frequently revived works. For this production, Delfont Mackintosh — one of the major commercial theatre owners in London — is the presenter.
For audiences, the draw is straightforward: a stage comedy with a cast whose names span British and American theatre, in a 750-seat house off Charing Cross Road for a strictly limited twelve-week run.
