And you thought yours were embarrasing...

11:30am Thursday 7th August 2008

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IF you think your family is embarrassing, just wait until you meet the Bliss clan.

There’s the theatrical mother, Judith, an incurable flirt who chases anything in trousers, her writer husband David, who wasn’t even in the queue when they were giving out social skills and their son, Simon, who is just as much a drama queen as his mum.

And who can forget their daughter Sorel, who flits across the stage like a lovesick teenager, even though her teenage years are well and truly behind her.

Put them all together and you recipe for emotional carnage as they devour the poor unfortunates who have agreed to come and stay with them for the weekend.

Life enhancing it definitely isn’t but Noel Coward’s comedy Hay Fever is still great fun and offers theatregoers the chance to mentally unwind as a fabulous season at the Royal Exchange Theatre draws to a close.

This play is as light as one of those cucumber sandwiches so beloved of the toffs Noel Coward writes about. Of course the play has dated but there’s still enough to keep a 21st century audience entertained, including the boy sitting opposite me. He can’t have been more than 12 and he laughed out loud on more than one occasion.

Performances from Greg Hersov’s cast are outstanding and especially impressive are Belinda Lang as Judith and Ben Keaton as David, who ends up in a memorable romantic clinch with one of the family’s guests. Keaton is, for my money, one of the best comedy actors working in this country today and Lang shows she’s infinitely more talented than the formulaic sitcom 2 Point 4 Children. But I also liked Simon Treves as Richard Greatham, a bumbling toff with an endearing line in bemusement.

It would be impossible to review this production and not mention Ashley Martin-Davis’ sumptuous set, an eye catching backdrop to a chain of events that are far from pretty. An enjoyable comedy, rather than a hilarious one. Rick Bowen * Until August 16. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ***