Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant to star in Noel Coward’s Hay Fever in London’s West End

Hay Fever is one of Coward’s most enduring comedies, and follows the self-centred Bliss family – retired actress Judith, her novelist husband David, and their children Sorel and Simon.

All four separately invite a guest to stay for the weekend without telling the other family members, setting the scene for a weekend of chaos.

The lead female character has often been played by a British actress – Felicity Kendal took on the role for the show’s last West End incarnation in 2015.

It’s more unusual for a US actress to play the part, but Coward actually based the character on an American he’d met at a dinner party in 1921.

The playwright was fascinated by Broadway star Laurette Taylor and her abrupt manner with house guests, and based Hay Fever on her family.

“It’s the most delightful story,” said Baranski of the Taylor connection. “She had a husband named Hartley Manners, and they were so bohemian and so rude.

“Laurette Taylor was a famous and brilliant American actress, and Noel Coward renamed them Hardly Manners,” she laughed.

“He was captivated by their rudeness, and he called this play a comedy of appalling manners.”

Taylor, who died in 1946, somewhat distanced herself from the portrayal when she saw the show, famously remarking: “None of us is ever unintentionally rude.”