Hay Fever

I had the opportunity to see Judi Dench on stage in Noel Coward's Hay Fever at the Haymarket at the height of the hay fever season, and I took it. Dame Judi has a fertile theatrical imagination. I have only seen her on TV and in the movies and was unprepared for the sheer physicality of her performance. She also sat down at the piano and sang a decent rendition of "Plaisir d'amour," one of the great songs on the pleasures of love. (How did Yvonne Kenny miss that one?) While in her seventies Judi successfully played someone of about 45. She skipped, she danced, she swayed, she sang. She was a delight.