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A flamboyantly artistic and egotistic family of four each invites an acquaintance to their country house for the weekend. Chaos and hilarity ensue. That is the crux of Hay Fever, Noël Coward‘s hit 1925 farce, now available for free online a century later, thanks to the volunteers at Distributed Proofreaders and Project Gutenberg.

Coward – later renowned for witty comedies like Private Lives and Blithe Spirit – commenced his theatrical career as a child actor. He began writing plays in his teens and had his first West End production, I’ll Leave It to You, a light comedy in which he also starred, at the age of 20. Although reviews were mixed, they were positive enough to keep him encouraged.

In 1924, Coward had his first big hit in the West End and on Broadway, The Vortex. Although not a comedy, its taboo subjects – adultery and drug addiction – resulted in sell-out crowds. Around the same time, Coward was writing Hay Fever, with the celebrated Marie Tempest in mind for the role of the retired actress Judith Bliss. But Tempest wasn’t interested at first – until the success of The Vortex. Coward was thrilled. He later wrote admiringly, “Marie Tempest can tie up a parcel of books, speak with her back to the audience, light cigarettes, pour out drinks, do a hundred and one things with her hands and body and never lose a laugh, or mis-time a witticism.”

Hay Fever was a modest success in the West End, running for 337 performances (but not a success on Broadway, where it ran for only 49 performances). It has been revived a number of times, most notably in 1964 by the new National Theatre, founded by Laurence Olivier. Olivier asked Coward to direct that production. Coward declined at first, but then relented, because he would be working with “a cast that could have played the Albanian telephone directory.” Indeed they could: the cast included Edith Evans as Judith, Maggie Smith as Myra, Derek Jacobi as Simon, and Lynn Redgrave as Jackie.

Coward admitted that Hay Fever “had no plot and that there were few if any witty lines.” But he felt that “literate epigrams” are never as funny as “perfectly ordinary phrases” delivered “impeccably” in the context of the play. “Some of the biggest laughs in Hay Fever,” he said, “occur on such lines as ‘Go on,’ ‘No, there isn’t, is there?’ and ‘This haddock’s disgusting.'”

Hay Fever is still frequently performed by professional and community theaters the world over. Thanks to Distributed Proofreaders and Project Gutenberg, you can see why for yourself, and even, if you’re so inclined, download it for your own production.

This post was contributed by Linda Cantoni, a Distributed Proofreaders volunteer.