ABSTRACT
The year 1924 marked a watershed in the development of the comedy of manners: in that year Bonamy Dobree's pioneer study Restoration Comedy was published, The Way of the World was revived by Nigel Playfair at the Lyric, Hammersmith, and Coward's first important comedy, Hay Fever, was performed. Hay Feveris a play very much concerned with acting, with maintaining a pose, as it contrasts the bohemian life of the artistic Bliss family with the more mundane behaviour of their guests. Absolute precision is the hallmark of Coward's style. Hay Fever's cleverness resides in the organization of its action and the shrewd observation of social behaviour rather than in wittiness of dialogue, though an anecdote relating to the play's triumphant revival in 1964 at the National Theatre with 'a cast capable of playing the Albanian telephone directory' is revealing of the author's scrupulous attention to the minutest detail of expression, as well as indicative of his spontaneous wit.
