Dianna Renee Yorke carries Hay Fever to its theatrical heights.
View of the exhibition of OLT history in the Foyer of the Little Theatre.
In this 100th anniversary year of the OLT, and the oldest community theatre in Canada, the Canadian premiere of Hay Fever is clearly the perfect choice to start the season. Performed by “home grown” Canadian Actors in 1926, one year after it premiered on the London stage (so the programme tells us), it took place in the theatre of the Victoria Memorial Museum on Argyle St. (Now the Museum of Nature) and of course it was mounted by the Ottawa Drama League, which later became the Ottawa Little Theatre. Hay Fever is linked to more Ottawa Little Theatre history because it was restaged in 1970, as part of the fundraiser for the new building (after fire destroyed the original site of the OLT) and that performance featured the gracious and most talented Florence Fancott (who always reminded me of the French actress Delphine Seyrig). David Bliss was played by Roy Hayden-Hinsley, the eternally handsome leading man in OLT productions of that period who always left the teenagers, myself included, sitting awe struck in the green room during rehearsals. The programme notes brought back all that forgotten history and it was quite a delight.
