(Black Cat) Blythe Spirit

Ghostly Notes:

There is no-one who epitomizes sophistication in the theatre like Noel Coward. His plays written in the 1940s and 50s continue to be performed to this day. They are wonderful lampoons of ‘High society’ and such was his brilliance that they loved him for it. Why not? His jabs at the ruling class and their manners. Presented them with chaotic, romantic entanglements with characters who spoke witty, cutting, dialogue. You could only wish you had thought of, or had the diction to say. ‘Blythe Spirit’  was first produced in 1941, but I brought it forward to the 1980s. When Reagan was president and junk bonds were all the rage. The plot gives us Charles & Ruth Woodward, an elegant yuppie couple who have their lives thrown into complete chaos. When a medium they’ve invited to dinner calls up the ghost of Charles’ former spouse, now deceased-wife Elvira. All is set for a quintessential ghostly farce filled with chills and laughter. As our thoroughly modern couple tries to come to terms with this spectral ménage à trois.