Hollywood and Broadway star Christine Baranski will finally make her long-awaited West End debut this autumn, starring alongside British star Richard E. Grant in a major new revival of Noël Coward’s classic comedy, Hay Fever.
The production will play a strictly limited 12-week season at the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre in London from 22 September 2026.
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Christine Baranski’s West End debut
Christine Baranski, a two-time Tony Award winner and star of The Good Wife, The Gilded Age, and Mamma Mia!, said that appearing on a London stage has been a lifelong dream.
“I attended my first West End play as a student at Juilliard in 1971, so it’s rather a dream come true to perform at Wyndham’s Theatre in a Noël Coward play in the West End,” the 73-year-old actress said. “Hay Fever is a 101-year-old comedy of appalling manners. It requires quicksilver delivery and suave flamboyance. I hope it will be a delicious treat for audiences to spend time with this Blissful Bohemian family!”
Baranski, who will play retired actress Judith Bliss in the comedy, told the BBC that “I’m already studying the role, learning my lines, and working to polish an English accent.”
Though she has become a household name through her six-time Emmy-nominated television career, Baranski began her career in the theatre and described herself as a “Cowardian,” having previously starred in Coward’s Private Lives and Blithe Spirit in the US.
Richard E. Grant’s stage return
Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I, Saltburn) will star opposite Baranski as her husband, novelist David Bliss. The role marks Grant’s first appearance in the West End in over twenty years.
Grant described his co-star as “sensational” and expressed his delight at returning to the stage in Coward’s “delicious” comedy of “appalling manners.”
Bliss family chaos
Hay Fever first premiered in 1925, and is one of Noël Coward’s most popular plays. It follows the eccentric and bohemian Bliss family – retired actress Judith (Baranski), David (Grant), and their two children. When all four family members secretly invite a different guest to stay for the weekend at their country home, the result is a masterclass in social disaster!
While the role of Judith Bliss is typically associated with British stalwarts like Felicity Kendal or Judi Dench, the character was actually inspired by an American actress, Laurette Taylor, whom Coward met in 1921.
The creative team
Hay Fever will be directed by Emily Burns (Jack Absolute Flies Again) and produced by Wessex Grove and Gavin Kalin Productions. Christine Baranski is set to join rehearsals in mid-August, immediately following the wrap of her filming schedule for the latest season of HBO’s The Gilded Age.
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📷 Main photo: Hay Fever – London. Christine Baranski (Photo Emilio Madrid) & Richard E Grant (Photo Pip Seed)
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