Blithe Spirit (1989)

Performances

November 3-4, 10-12, 17-18, 1989

Venue

Community Players Theatre

Synopsis

“Blithe Spirit” offers up fussy, cantakerous novelist Charles Condomine, re-married but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife, the clever and insistent Elvira who is called up by a visiting “happy medium,” one Madame Arcati. As the (worldly and un-wordly) personalities clash, Charles’ current wife Ruth is accidentally killed, “passes over,” joins Elvira, and the two “blithe spirits” haunt the hapless Charles into perpetuity.

Author: Noel Coward

Historian’s Corner

“Blithe Spirit” was a revival for Community Players. The first production was the opening show of the 1945-1946 season. To update the show for a contemporary audience, director Jim Irvin decided to add video monitors as a part of the set. We could now see Elvira and later Ruth and Charles not only the stage but onscreen as well. For the auditions of the show, Jim Irvin occasionally had the men reading women’s parts, and women reading men’s part. He then decided to cast all of the parts gender specific, except for the role of Madame Arcati, who was played by character actor Bruce Parrish, who was listed in the program as “B. Parrish.” Kerry Anne Dixon needed over two and a half hours to make up Bruce to appear feminine.