Christine Baranski will star as Judith Bliss and Richard E. Grant will star as David Bliss in a stinging new production of Noël Coward’s irresistible comedy Hay Fever. Directed by Emily Burns, Hay Fever will play at 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 Friday 17 April at 2.00pm.
HAY FEVER marks Christine Baranski’s West End debut and Richard E. Grant’s return to the West End stage after 20 years. Further casting and creative team to be announced soon.
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.”
It’s LOATHESOME being looked after. Last year, Judith retired from her life-on-stage. Already, she misses the applause. Idling away at their country home, the rest of the family – reclusive novelist husband David and failure-to-launch children Sorrel and Simon – are too self-involved to be a good audience. So, Judith invites a young fan as her guest for the weekend. But unbeknownst to her, each of the Blisses have a guest of their own arriving at the very same time. Completely unsuited to hosting and allergic to compromise, the house quickly erupts into a chaos of parlour games, put-downs and unrequested encores.
Christine Baranski is one of the entertainment industry’s most honoured actresses, Christine Baranski is an Emmy, two-time Tony, Screen Actors Guild, Drama Desk, and American Comedy Award winner. Baranski can be seen starring as Agnes Van Rhijn in the acclaimed HBO series The Gilded Age, from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. Baranski received a 2024 Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the series, which is currently in production on its fourth season. For her performance as Diane Lockhart on the CBS series, The Good Wife, Baranski received six Emmy Award nominations and two Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations. She then starred as the beloved character in the critically acclaimed spinoff, The Good Fight, which earned her four Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations, a Golden Globe nomination, and TCA Award nomination. Last May, Baranski co-starred opposite Nicole Kidman in the second season of Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers. Other memorable roles on screen include Mamma Mia!, Cybill, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Big Bang Theory, Frasier, Bowfinger, Cruel Intentions, The Birdcage, Into the Woods, Chicago and many more. Baranski’s illustrious on-stage career includes performances in The Real Thing, Rumors, Hurlyburly, Boeing-Boeing, and The House of Blue Leaves, to name a few. Baranski received an Honorary Doctorate from Juilliard, and in 2018, was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.
Richard E. Grant is an award-winning actor whose body of work spans from stage to screen.
Films include Savage House, Ladies First, Nuremberg, Thursday Murder Club, Death of a Unicorn, The Lesson, Saltburn, Star Wars - Rise of Skywalker, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Logan, The Iron Lady, Gosford Park, Portrait of a Lady, Jack & Sarah, Dracula, The Age of Innocence, The Player, Pret a Porter, LA Story, Henry & June, How to Get Ahead in Advertising and Withnail & I. He received Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA & Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor in Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Richard also wrote and directed Wah-Wah based on his childhood in Swaziland. His TV credits include The Other Bennet Sister, Too Much, The Franchise, Dispatches From Elsewhere, Loki, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, Trial & Retribution, Girls, Jekyll & Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel. His theatre credits include My Fair Lady for Sydney Opera/Chicago Opera), The Importance of Being Earnest at the Aldwych theatre, The Play What I Wrote at Wyndham’s Theatre, Otherwise Engaged at the Criterion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Tramway Road at the Lyric Theatre.
Emily Burns is a director and writer, an associate of the Bridge Theatre, and previously of the National Theatre. Theatre credits as director include Measure for Measure, Love’s Labour’s Lost for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Dear Octopus and Jack Absolute Flies Again for the National Theatre, The Comeback at the Noël Coward Theatre and Reykjavík at Hampstead Theatre. As director and writer, Frankenstein for the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC. Film includes, as adapter, Romeo and Juliet for the National Theatre/Sky Arts.