In Noel Coward’s 1924 comic masterpiece Hay Fever, four unwitting guests get more than they bargained for when visiting the eccentric household of famous actress Judith Bliss.

When they arrive at a country house by the Thames, the guests expect a civilised weekend of polite conversation and illicit love affairs. But Judith Bliss, her novelist husband and their two grown-up children are eccentric bohemians and, as confusion mounts, their guests become desperate to flee.

In Stephen Unwin’s production of Hay Fever for the Rose theatre Kingston the role of Judith Bliss is played by Celia Imrie, the much loved stage and screen actress whose work includes Acorn Antiques on television and the subsequent stage musical, as well as the films Calendar Girls and Bridget Jones’ Diary and Victoria Wood’s TV show Dinnerladies.