“Even a cuckoo has charm, in moderation.” So wrote Noel Coward in his play Hay Fever. That’s sort of the way I feel about British accents and the reason I don’t watch the BBC. But I had no trouble understanding what the actors in Hay Fever were saying, even if I occasionally didn’t understand what they were saying. (I managed to figure out that when two characters left the house to go punting, they were riding on a boat, not playing American football.)

Produced by ShawChicago, this was a concert reading, which apparently is defined as a little more in depth, and with a little more movement, than a stage reading. (http://southernwritersproject.net/?p=570)

In that vein, the cast wore costumes, with changes between acts. But, in the first act, and only the first act, those members of the cast who weren’t in the scene sat in seats upstage, even while theoretically offstage in the play. I’m not sure why it was staged that way, but I’m glad it was as some of the actors tried desperately and ineffectively to hide their amusement at others’ dialogue, which added to my amusement. It was unintentional (I think) and unprofessional, but fun. And at least they were only grinning, not scratching their private parts.

All the actors were otherwise excellent. Though Mary Michell had the juiciest role as the matriarch of the family, I will give a special shoutout to Callie Johnson, whose vacant stare while portraying a particularly simpleminded character brought repeated laughter from the audience.

I also took particular interest in the dance of the nine music stands the actors used to hold their scripts, as each time an actor went to a different stand they adjusted its height based on theirs. Their differences in heights made this a wonderful ballet for me, as I am easily amused, just as the actors were in the first act.