Sidmouth rep summer season

Weekly rep returns to the Manor Pavilion Theatre in Sidmouth next week, when The Summer Rep Season 2015 opens with a new production of Noel Corward’s Hay Fever from Thursday 25 June to Wednesday 1 July 2015.

The Summer Rep Season sees one company of actors present a season of twelve classic revivals throughout summer, with a new production each week until the end of September.

Season producer Paul Taylor-Mills said today: “This is my third year producing the Summer Rep Season at the Manor Pavilion Theatre, and this is by far the most ambitious. Audiences can expect West End production values and phenomenal performances from our repertory cast. Hay Fever is the perfect summer treat and a brilliant way to launch this year’s season”.

Set in 1925, Noel Coward’s Hay Fever is a quintessentially English comedy set in the country estate of the eccentric Bliss family. From Judith, the recently retired but once glittering star of the London stage, to her husband David, an egocentric novelist, and their two Bohemian adult children Sorel and Simon, they are everything a respectable English family shouldn’t be. When each member of the family invites a guest to their rural retreat, the unfortunate weekend guests - a diplomat, a flapper, a fan and a vamp - are repeatedly thrown into scenes of chaos, misjudged meetings, secret seductions and scandalous revelations during one outrageous weekend in Berkshire.

With its wit, precision and sheer outrageousness, Noel Coward's Hay Fever has been a favourite among theatre goers since it first dazzled London's West End in 1925.

Noel Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Brief Encounter, Fallen Angels, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire, while Coward's stage and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works, and wrote popular songs such as 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'.

The cast features Nova Skipp as Judith Bliss, Francis Adams as David Bliss, Evie Lockley as Sorel Bliss, John Askew as Simon Bliss, Hannah Vesty as Myra Arundel, Russell Anthony as Richard Greathan, Sarah Dungworth as Jackie Coryton, Ethan Chapples as Sandy Tyrell and Julie Ross as Clara.

Hay Fever is directed by Lillie Collier.

The Summer Rep Season 2015 is directed by Paul Taylor-Mills (Out of Order), Lillie Collier (Hay Fever, Boeing Boeing), Stuart Burrows (Amy's View, Rope), Andrew Beckett (Joking Apart, The Mating Game, Hound of the Baskervilles), Max Reynolds (September Tide), James Murphy (Sweet Revenge, Wait Until Dark) and James Pellow (The Importance of Being Earnest). It is produced by Paul Taylor-Mills and Lillie Collier with Associate Producer Kylie Vilcins. It is designed by David Shields with costumes designs by Barbara Williams and lighting by Tony Hill.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.manorpavilion.com

Twitter @SummerRep2015