Blithe Spirit (play)
[1] The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant Madame Arcati to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book.
[3] He knew that in wartime Britain, with death a constant presence, there would be some objection to a comedy about ghosts,[4] but his firm view was that as the story would be thoroughly heartless, "you can't sympathise with any of them.
"[3] After his London office and flat had been destroyed in the Blitz, Coward took a short holiday with the actress Joyce Carey at Portmeirion on the coast of Snowdonia in Wales.
[16] In July 1970 the play was revived in the West End at the Globe Theatre, starring Patrick Cargill as Charles, Phyllis Calvert as Ruth, Amanda Reiss as Elvira and Beryl Reid as Madame Arcati; it ran until January 1971.
[17] It was revived by the National Theatre in 1976 in a production directed by Harold Pinter, starring Richard Johnson as Charles, Rowena Cooper as Ruth, Maria Aitken as Elvira and Elizabeth Spriggs as Madame Arcati.
[18] Another London revival played in 1986 at the Vaudeville Theatre, starring Simon Cadell as Charles, Jane Asher as Ruth, Joanna Lumley as Elvira and Marcia Warren as Madame Arcati.
[19] A 1997 revival at the Chichester Festival, directed by Tim Luscombe, featured Steven Pacey (Charles), Belinda Lang (Ruth), Twiggy (Elvira) and Dora Bryan as Madame Arcati.
[20] The piece was back in the West End at the Savoy Theatre in 2004, in a production directed by Thea Sharrock, starring Aden Gillett as Charles, Joanna Riding as Ruth, Amanda Drew as Elvira and Penelope Keith (succeeded by Stephanie Cole) as Madame Arcati.
Matt Wolf wrote in Variety, "Sharrock and her company land every laugh in a play that induces an indecent amount of pleasure while never letting us forget the extent to which Blithe Spirit comes marinated in pain.
It ran there from March to June 2011, with a cast including Robert Bathurst as Charles, Hermione Norris as Ruth, Ruthie Henshall as Elvira and Alison Steadman as Madame Arcati.
[25][26] The Eyre production returned to the West End for a limited run from September to November 2021 at the Harold Pinter Theatre with the same cast and crew, except that Madeleine Mantock played Elvira.
[34] Blakemore directed, with Rupert Everett as Charles, Jayne Atkinson as Ruth, Christine Ebersole as Elvira, Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati and Simon Jones as Dr Bradman.
[n 6] A revival, directed by Blakemore with most of the West End cast (including Lansbury at age 89) except Charlotte Parry as Ruth, toured North America from December 2014 to March 2015, visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington D.C.[38][39] A production at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne in April 1945 starred Edwin Styles as Charles, Aileen Britton as Ruth, Bettina Welch as Elvira and Letty Craydon as Madame Arcati.
[42] A French translation, Jeux d'esprits, was presented at the Théâtre de la Madeleine, Paris, in November 1946, directed by Pierre Dux, with Robert Murzeau as Charles, Renée Devillers as Suzanne (Ruth), Simone Renant as Elvire (Elvira) and Jeanne Fusier-Gir as Madame Arcati.
[56] In 2004 Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "With Hay Fever and Private Lives, Blithe Spirit strikes me as being one of Coward's three indisputable comic masterpieces.
A 1945 film was directed by David Lean, and starred two of the principals from the original stage production reprising their roles: Kay Hammond as Elvira and Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati.
[59] A 2020 film adaptation was directed by Edward Hall, with Dan Stevens as Charles, Isla Fisher as Ruth, Leslie Mann as Elvira and Judi Dench as Madame Arcati.
[60] The New York Times also published an unenthusiastic review: "more screw-loose than screwball ... a ludicrous adaptation of Noël Coward's 1941 stage play, reimagines its source material as little more than a slip-and-fall farce".
[62] BBC Radio's first adaptation was broadcast in 1954, with Michael Denison (Charles), Thelma Scott (Ruth), Dulcie Gray (Elvira) and Winifred Oughton (Madame Arcati).
[64] A 1983 version featured Paul Eddington as Charles, Julia McKenzie as Ruth, Anna Massey as Elvira and Peggy Mount as Madame Arcati.
[65] The short-lived British commercial radio station Oneword presented a 2002 adaptation co-produced with and subsequently released on CD by Naxos Audio Books.
The director was Sheridan Morley and the cast was led by Corin Redgrave (Charles), Kika Markham (Ruth), Joanna Lumley (Elvira) and Thelma Ruby (Madame Arcati).
[66] A 2008 BBC Radio adaptation featured Roger Allam as Charles, Hermione Gulliford as Ruth, Zoe Waites as Elvira and Maggie Steed as Madame Arcati.
[68] An American television adaptation was broadcast in 1946, with Philip Tonge as Charles, Carol Goodner as Ruth, Leonora Corbett as Elvira, Estelle Winwood as Madame Arcati and Doreen Lang reprising the role of Edith.
[69] In Britain, BBC television broadcast a production in 1948, directed by George More O'Ferrall, with Frank Lawton as Charles, Marian Spencer as Ruth, Betty Ann Davies as Elvira and Beryl Measor reprising her stage role of Madame Arcati.
[71] A British commercial television adaptation in 1964 was directed by Joan Kemp-Welch, with Griffith Jones as Charles, Helen Cherry as Ruth, Joanna Dunham as Elvira and Hattie Jacques as Madame Arcati.
It had a Broadway run of 375 performances, starring Edward Woodward as Charles, Louise Troy as Ruth, Tammy Grimes as Elvira and Beatrice Lillie as Madame Arcati.
[56] It had a three-month West End run in 1964–1965, with Denis Quilley as Charles, Jan Walters as Ruth, Marti Stevens as Elvira and Cicely Courtneidge as Madame Arcati.
