Noel Coward’s comedy of bad manners, dashed off in three days, is set in the country home of a family of four insufferable Bohemians who, unbeknownst to each other, have invited a guest for the weekend. The comedy rests entirely in the intolerable rudeness of the hosts and the excruciating embarrassment of the guests.
Felicity Kendal is cast as the egotistical mother in Lindsay Posner’s disappointing revival. Marie Tempest, who created the role in 1925, initially turned the play down, complaining it was plotless. Coward agreed totally, admitting it was far and away one of the most difficult plays to perform that he had ever encountered: “To begin with, it has no plot at all and remarkably little action. Its general effectiveness therefore depends upon expert technique from each and every member of the cast.” The actors do far too much shouting to be effective. The biggest laugh comes when a barometer falls off the wall.