Regarded as a theatrical classic, Noël Coward’s 'Blithe Spirit' tells the story of Charles Condomine, a writer who invites a psychic medium, Madame Arcati, to his home to conduct a séance as research for his new book. However, the séance goes awry, and the ghost of Charles’ first wife, Elvira, is summoned back from the dead. Elvira is visible only to Charles and causes chaos in his life by attempting to disrupt his second marriage to his current wife, Ruth.
Charles’ attempts to rid himself of Elvira only lead to more problems, and soon Ruth becomes suspicious of his behaviour. Madame Arcati tries to help, but her efforts only complicate things even further, and Charles finds himself caught between the two women, between life and death, and struggles to keep his sanity intact. 'Blithe Spirit' is sometimes called a tug-of-love comedy with a difference: one of the lovers is a ghost.
Honeysuckle Weeks was part of the cast of this radio play and played Elvira, the ghost. A radio play is a performance which has little or no visual components, and depends mainly on dialogue, music, and sound effects to tell its story.
This radio play was read in an authentic studio setting and brought to life with a 'foley artist' who recreated the sound effects and atmospherics in the style of vintage radio drama live on stage.
Besides Honeysuckle Weeks, the cast consisted of Jenny Seagrove, Tristan Gemmill, Louisa Clein, Ben Nealon, Marti Webb, and Shannon Rewcroft.
The radio play ran for three days (from May 18, 2023 until May 20th, 2023) and was performed in the
Royal Windsor Theatre. The public was ecstatic.
You know who also did a stint in Blithe Spirit? Joan Hickson in 1976, who went on to play
Agatha Christie's Miss Maple.
But, back to the present, and the public was enthralled, reviewing it as being 'A feast for the eyes and ears' and 'An absolute delight'.
No comments:
Post a Comment