On a more positive note, after 12 years, long-running musical Mamma Mia! is moving. I’ve yet to confirm the exact dates, but the hit ABBA show is moving from the Prince of Wales theatre to the Novello on Aldwych, following the excellent Crazy For You. More details when I have them!

The Young Vic has announced a new show: theatre company Sound&Fury are bringing Going Dark to the venue next March. It’s going to be an immersive show with interesting lighting, projections and sound, about a narrator in a planetarium.

Finally, the Evening Standard Theatre Awards longlist has been announced. Congratulations to the National Theatre, Matilda The Musical, Shakespeare’s Globe, Crazy for You and more who’ve all been nominated. I wouldn’t like to be the judge choosing between Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller, James Corden, Ralph Fiennes, Kevin Spacey and Jude Law for the Best Actor category…

This Week’s London Cast News:

• Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Northam, Kevin McNally and Olivia Colman will star in Noël Coward’s Hay Fever at, appropriately, the Noël Coward Theatre from 10 February next year
• Ann Emery, the original Grandma in Billy Elliot is returning to the show at the Victoria Palace from November
• Exciting news from the Menier: Frances Ruffelle (Eponine to you and me!) and Matt Rawle (who was so wonderful in Zorro) are to star in Pippin, the venue’s Christmas show.
• More Christmas news: Simon Callow will star in a new version of Charles Dickens’ festive classic, A Christmas Carol at the Arts Theatre from 8 Dec

Ever since, Hay Fever has been coveted by the most fabulous of older actresses, including Edith Evans and Judi Dench. The Rose Theatre is lucky to have not one but two established actresses taking on the role, Celia Imrie (whom I saw) takes the first half of the run, and Nichola McAuliffe the second.

This comic Coward at his very best. However the play’s success also depends on the chemistry and innuendo created on stage by the cast. Hay Fever is a farce set in an English country house in the 1920s. We are introduced to the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and watch the hysterical consequences as each invites a guest to stay for the weekend.

The Rose Theatre has a contemporary feel with a simple stage that allows it to be transformed for each production. Hay Fever’s set was beautifully ornate with a real attention to detail, similar in fact to Coward’s Waiting for Wings that I saw a few weeks ago.

Celia Imrie commands the stage and seems to relish the experience of being Judith Bliss. Hay Fever’s younger roles are taken on by Georgia Maguire and Joshua McGuire (both recent drama school graduates) playing the two bratty Bliss children, chasing each other around the stage and being deliciously unaware of their conceited selfish behaviour. I enjoyed watching the interaction between mother and children, especially how Judith acts with her younger, more beautiful daughter, flitting between pride and jealousy.

This play is right up my street, I enjoyed it so much I was still laughing in the intervals… I even forgot about my dreadful cold. The Bliss family are utterly dysfunctional, but work in their own way. I think there is something here for everyone to identity with. I certainly thought the mad melodramatic ensemble on stage were really quite similar to my own rowdy, Bohemian family!

Hay fever continues until Saturday 23 October.

Noel Coward’s 1932 play Design For Living was initially banned in the UK until 1939 because its risque subject matter was thought unacceptable to the official censor.

The provocative play has now returned to London for the first time in 15 years, to the Old Vic Theatre.

Design for Living’s racy plot centres on a love triangle between interior designer Gilda (Lisa Dillon), playwright Leo (Andrew Scott), and artist Otto (Tom Burke).

We asked what some audience members thought of the show.

Jess, 29, Herne Hill
This is a fabulous play – I enjoyed it immensely. I’ve never seen a Noel Coward play before and I thought the script was superb – but because it was brought alive and injected with a wonderful humour by three such strong leading actors. I thought Lisa Dillon made a charming Gilda – it was a real pleasure to watch her. And I just loved the scene when Otto and Leo got drunk – it was so well executed and achingly funny. Despite the comic lines, I believed in the characters and their love triangle scenario. The play had a very sweet ending and was an absolute tonic.

Linnie, 34, Croydon
I would describe it as a perfectly cast Coward that sparkled darkly – it was delightful and deliciously naughty.

Marlon, 26, Seven Sisters
I was blown away by Design for Living. The dialogue was superbly sharp, the sets were fantastic and the storyline really impressed me. And it was so refreshing not to have the typical “Hollywood ending”. Five stars!

Abby, 30, Tower Bridge
Thought the play was very entertaining and funny, though I thought some of the scenes were heading into the farcical (shouting scene at the end). Overall a thoroughly entertaining evening.

Nic, 31, Bethnal Green
Best thing I’ve seen in a long time, wonderful acting and just hilarious! Gave it a standing ovation.

Ricci, 29, Herne Hill
Great script, delivered supremely. Gripping from the start. The glamorous costumes and sets transported us back to another age. And yet the play’s content – and all the issues and emotions the characters have to deal with – still have relevance today. I loved it!

Barry, 45, South Woodford
Although the storyline is very thin the brilliant acting more than makes up for it. Tom Burke and Andrew Scott are like a well-oiled machine. They bounce off of each other like they have been doing the play for years. The drunken scene towards the end of act two is excellent. Lisa Dillon is also brilliant and is on stage for most of the production. The set is also very good and far more than you normally see in a play. The play lasts for 3 hours including two intervals, but you will be laughing for large parts of that.

Design for Living is on at the Old Vic until 27 November. Get your Design for Living Tickets here. Have you seen the show? Add your views to the mix in the comments below.

Pentameter Theatre

I was there to see Waiting in the Wings, Noel Coward’s rarely performed 50th play. Set in a retirement home for actresses, the drama focuses on the feud between residents Lotta Bainbridge and May Davenport. Waiting in the Wings unusually has nine characters of pensionable age, providing parts for actresses whose talent is often wasted because of their years.

All the actresses are lovely to watch, and are noticeably having a great time on stage — they giggle and bicker with gusto and charm. Maggie McCourt is hilarious and quite brilliant as the mad Sarita Mytle, who is still convinced she is a leading actress. Frances Cuka, who’s had a remarkable acting career on stage and screen, graces the stage as May Davenport. She is natural and yet plays up to Coward’s witty script. The only slight disappointment is Rick Alancroft as Alan, whose changing accent made him rather unconvincing.

The place, the theatre and the play are all lovely. Catch this unique play before the run ends in two weeks, I guarantee you’ll leave feeling positive about getting older!

Waiting in the Wings is on until 18 September 2010.