StageNotes BLITHE SPIRIT v2b

STAGE NOTES prepared by Bridget Grace Sheaff Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward Glossary for Blithe Spirit ................................................................................................................. 2 Spiritualism: Origins and Effects ................................................................................................... 10 History of the Bicycle .................................................................................................................... 11 To A Skylark .................................................................................................................................. 13 About the Play .............................................................................................................................. 16 About the Playwright .................................................................................................................... 18 Page | 1 Glossary for Blithe Spirit PLACE Budleigh Salterton: A small town on the coast in east Devon, England, 15 miles south east of Exeter. Canterbury: An historic English cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour. Exmouth: A port town, civil parish and seaside resort in East Devon, England, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exeter. Folkestone: A port town located on the English Channel, in Kent, south-­‐east England. Hythe: A small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway (derived from Sheep Way) on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place. Kent: A county in South East England, and one of the home counties. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of Medway. Kent has a nominal border with the French department of Pas-­‐de-­‐Calais halfway through the Channel Tunnel, as well as a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The county also borders Greater London to the North West near the towns of Swanley and Dartford, Surrey near Westerham and East Sussex near Tunbridge Wells. Maidstone is its county town and historically Rochester and Canterbury have been accorded city status, though only the latter still holds it. Nottingham: A city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and County town of the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire. Page | 2 Southsea: A seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern end of Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire in England. Southsea is within a mile of Portsmouth's city centre. Southsea suffered badly from bombing in World War II. In particular the main shopping centre, Palmerston Road, was almost completely destroyed. Sudbury: A small market town in the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the River Stour near the Essex border, and is 60 miles (97 km) north-­‐east of London. Vladivostok: A city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, located at the head of the Golden Horn Bay, not far from Russia's borders with China and North Korea. PEOPLE Black Douglas (c. 1286 – 1330) Sir James Douglas (also known as Good Sir James and the Black Douglas), was a Scottish warlord, landowner, and guerilla fighter. Douglas was one of the chief commanders of the Wars of Scottish Independence. Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist. Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works; he worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished. Cagliostro (2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795) Count Alessandro di Cagliostro was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo. During his period as a novice in the order, Balsamo learned chemistry as well as a series of spiritual rites. In 1764, when he was seventeen, he convinced Vincenzo Marano—a wealthy goldsmith—of the existence of a hidden treasure buried several hundred years prior at Mount Pellegrino. The young man's knowledge of the occult, Marano reasoned, would be valuable in preventing the duo from being attacked by magical creatures guarding the treasure. In preparation for the expedition to Mount Pellegrino, however, Balsamo requested seventy pieces of silver from Marano. Cagliostro is said to be one of the greatest figures in occult, although since the late 19th century he has been considered by many to be a charlatan. Many wild stories have grown up around him, which have obscured the true facts of his life, which are more unbelievable than the fiction. Page | 3 Devant (22 February 1868 – 13 October 1941) David Devant was an English magician, shadowgraphist and film exhibitor. He was born David Wighton in Holloway, London. Milbourne Christopher in his textbook on conjuring history, Panorama of Magic, says that: "David Devant, most British magicians agree, was the master performer of his time". Devant was a fixture in British entertainment and it was he who was selected to represent "the world of wizardry" at King George V's command performance at the Palace Theatre in London on 1 July 1912. Devant made headlines not long after when an escaped mental patient cornered him in London and insisted that the conjurer pull coins from the air as he had been seen to do on stage. Devant did so until attendants arrived from the hospital to take the disturbed spectator away Genghiz Kahn (1162?– August 1227) Genghis Khan born Temüjin, was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his demise. Gil de Retz (September 1405 – 26 October 1440) Gilles de Montmorency-­‐LavalBaron de Rais, was a lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-­‐in-­‐arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his (disputed) reputation and later conviction as a presumed serial killer of children. In 1434/1435, he retired from military life, depleted his wealth by staging an extravagant theatrical spectacle of his own composition, and was accused of dabbling in the occult. After 1432 Gilles was accused of engag-­‐
ing in a series of child murders, with victims possibly numbering in the hundreds. The killings came to an end in 1440, when a violent dispute with a clergyman led to an ecclesiastical investi-­‐
gation which brought the crimes to light, and attributed them to Gilles. At his trial the parents of missing children in the surrounding area and Gilles' own confederates in crime testified against him. Gilles was condemned to death and hanged at Nantes on 26 October 1440. Julius Caesar A Roman general, statesman, Consul, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. Maskelyne: (22 December 1839 – 18 May 1917) John Nevil Maskelyne was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with many other Victorian-­‐era devices. Maskelyne was a member of The Magic Circle and, like Harry Houdini, tried to dispel the notion of supernatural powers. To this end, in 1914, Maskelyne founded the Occult Committee whose remit was to "investigate claims to super-­‐
natural power and to expose fraud". In particular, the committee attempted to prove that the Indian rope trick has never been performed. The writings of Maskelyne on Spiritualism and Theosophy were included in the book The Supernatural? (1891) with the Page | 4 psychiatrist Lionel Weatherly (1852-­‐1940). It was an early text in the field of anomalistic psychology and offered rational explanations for occult and Spiritualistic practices, paranormal phenomena and religious experiences. Merlin Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in Arthurian legend. Mesmer (May 23, 1734 – March 5, 1815) Franz Anton Mesmer was a German physician with an interest in astronomy, who theorised that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animated and inanimate objects that he called animal magnetism, sometimes later referred to as mesmerism. The theory attracted a wide following between about 1780 and 1850, and continued to have some influence until the end of the century. In 1843 the Scottish physician James Braid proposed the term hypnosis for a technique derived from animal magnetism; today this is the usual meaning of mesmerism. Michelangelo (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564) Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Rachmaninoff (1 April 1873 – 28 March 1943) Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. SPIRITUALISM GLOSSARY “Bell and Book” The phrase "bell, book, and candle" refers to a method of ex-­‐communication for one who had committed a particularly grievous sin. Introduced around the late 9th century, the practice was once used by the Catholic Church; in modern times, a simple pronouncement is made. This ceremony traditionally involved a bishop, with 12 priests, reciting an oath on the altar: We separate him, together with his accomplices and abettors, from the precious body and blood of the Lord and from the society of all Christians; we exclude him from our Holy Mother, the Church in Heaven, and on earth; we declare him excommunicate and anathema; we judge him damned, with the Devil and his angels and all the reprobate, to eternal fire until he shall recover himself from the toils of the devil and return to amendment and to penitence. Page | 5 Ectoplasm: A term coined by Charles Richet to denote a substance or spiritual energy "exteriorized" by physical mediums. Ectoplasm is said to be associated with the formation of spirits; however since World War II reports of ectoplasmic phenomena have declined and many psychical researchers doubt whether genuine cases ever existed. Ectoplasm is said to be formed by physical mediums when in a trance state. This material is excreted as a gauze-­‐like substance from orifices on the medium's body and spiritual entities are said to drape this substance over their nonphysical body, enabling them to interact in the physical and real universe. Some accounts claim that ectoplasm begins clear and almost invisible, but darkens and becomes clearer as the psychic energy becomes stronger. Still other accounts state that in extreme cases ectoplasm will develop a strong odor. According to some mediums, the ectoplasm cannot occur in light conditions as the ectoplasmic substance would disintegrate. Exorcism: The practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area they are believed to have possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be done by causing the entity to swear an oath, performing an elaborate ritual, or simply by command-­‐
ing it to depart in the name of a higher power. The practice is ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions. Hypnotism: Hypnosis is a psychological state with physiological attributes superficially resembling sleep and marked by an individual's level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state. Another description of the phenomenon is that of an altered mental state, while another links it to imaginative role-­‐enactment. Hysteria: In its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. The fear can be centered on a body part, or most commonly, on an imagined problem with that body part. Occult: The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden". In common English usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", usually referred to as science. The term is sometimes taken to mean knowledge that "is meant only for certain people" or that "must be kept hidden", but for most practicing occultists it is simply the study of a deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the physical sciences. The terms esoteric and arcane have very similar meanings, and in most contexts the three terms are interchangeable. Poltergeist: In folklore and parapsychology, a poltergeist is a type of ghost or other supernatural being Page | 6 supposedly responsible for physical disturbances such as loud noises and objects moved around or destroyed. Most accounts of poltergeists describe movement or levitation of objects, such as furniture and cutlery, or noises such as knocking on doors. Poltergeists have also been claimed to be capable of pinching, biting, hitting and tripping people. Séance: An attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma" ("a movie session"). In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from spirits or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits; many people, including skeptics and non-­‐believers, treat it as a form of entertainment. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance. Society for Psychical Research: The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a non-­‐profit organization in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or para-­‐
normal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena in a scientific and unbiased way." It does not however, since its incep-­‐
tion in 1882, hold any corporate opinions: SPR members have a variety of beliefs or lack thereof about the reality and nature of the phenomena studied, and some skeptics have been active members of the Society. MISCELLANEOUS Alka-­‐seltzer: An effervescent antacid and pain reliever first marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company. Always by Irving Berlin: “Always" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1925, as a wedding gift for his wife Ellin McKay, whom he married in 1926, and to whom he presented the substantial royalties. Backgammon: One of the oldest board games for two players. Playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice. A player wins by removing all of his pieces from the board before his opponent. Back-­‐
gammon is a member of the tables family — the oldest class of board games in the world. BBC: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcasting statutory corporation. Its main responsibility is to provide impartial public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. Page | 7 Guttersnipe: An insult; scruffy and badly behaved child who spends most of their time on the street. “Heigh-­‐ho, heigh ho, off to work we go.”: "Heigh-­‐Ho" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, written by Frank Churchill (music) and Larry Morey (lyrics). “Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper.”: The earliest recorded version of this rhyme is from Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744), which has only four lines. The full version was produced in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765). There are references to various parts of the rhyme in earlier works. To 'sing for one's supper', was a proverbial phrase by the seventeenth century. An excellent new Medley (c. 1620) included the line 'Tom would eat meat but wants a knife'. Noel Coward, even as a child, found this rhyme exasperating. He says “That ‘Tuck’ and that ‘Sup’ and that ‘but’ rasped my sensibilities to such a degree that a deep scar must have formed in my subconscious, for many, many years later the untidy little verse sprang, unbidden from the lips of one of my favorite characters, Madame Arcati, in Blithe Spirit.” “Merrie England”: An English comic opera in two acts by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood. The patriotic story concerns love and rivalries at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, when a love letter sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to one of Queen Elizabeth’s Ladies in Waiting, Bessie Throckmorton, ends up in the hands of the queen. Well-­‐known songs from the opera include "O Peaceful England", "The Yeomen of England" and "Dan Cupid hath a Garden". Midsummer’s Eve: A holiday celebrating the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice (June 21). Midsummer’s Eve is observed in several countries. It is a national holiday in Sweden and Finland, and the official holiday is typically observed on the third Friday in June to allow a three-­‐day weekend. Nasturtiums: Plants are related to garden cress and mustard, noteworthy for a peppery, tangy (pungent) flavor. “Nobless oblige”: A French phrase literally meaning "nobility obliges". It is the concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements and requires the person with such status to fulfill social responsibilities, particularly in leadership roles. “Ou sont les neiges d’Anton”: The Ballade des dames du temps jadis ("Ballad of the Ladies of Times Past") is a poem by François Villon which celebrates famous women in history and mythology, and a prominent example of the ubi sunt? genre. It is written in the fixed-­‐form ballade format, and forms part of his collection Le Testament. Particularly famous is its interrogative refrain, Mais où sont les Page | 8 neiges d'antan? This was translated into English by Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" Ovaltine: A brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract, sugar, and whey. Some flavors also have cocoa. Tatler: A British magazine. Tatler was introduced on 3 July 1901 by Clement Shorter, publisher of The Sphere. It was named after the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. For some time a weekly publication, it had a subtitle varying on "an illustrated journal of society and the drama" It contained news and pictures of high society balls, charity events, race meetings, shooting parties, fashion and gossip, with cartoons by "The Tout" and H. M. Bateman. The Times: A British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register (it became The Times on 1 January 1788). Page | 9 Spiritualism: Origins and Effects Although various Spiritualist traditions have their own beliefs, known as Principles, there are some shared concepts: • A belief in spirit communication. • A belief that the soul continues to exist after the death of the physical body. • Personal responsibility for life circumstances. • Even after death it is possible for the soul to learn and improve • A belief in a God, often referred to as "Infinite Intelligence". • The natural world considered as an expression of said intelligence. Spiritualists believe in communicating with the spirits of discarnate humans. They believe that spirit mediums are humans gifted to do this, often through séances. Anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes. The afterlife is not a static place, but one in which spirits evolve. The two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits may lie on a higher plane—lead to a third belief, that spirits can provide knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about God and the afterlife. Thus many members speak of spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance. Spiritualism first appeared in the 1840s in the "Burned-­‐over District" of upstate New York, where earlier religious movements such as Millerism, and Mormonism had emerged during the Second Great Awakening. This region of New York State was an environment in which many thought direct communication with God or angels was possible, and that God would not behave harshly—for example, that God would not condemn unbaptised infants to an eternity in Hell. Spiritualists often set March 31, 1848, as the beginning of their movement. On that date, Kate and Margaret Fox, of Hydesville, New York, reported that they had made contact with a spirit. What made this an extraordinary event was that the spirit communicated through rapping noises, audible to onlookers. The evidence of the senses appealed to practically minded Americans, and the Fox sisters became a sensation. However, the Fox Sisters later admitted that this "contact" with the spirit was a hoax. Shortly afterward they recanted that admission. The movement quickly spread throughout the world; though only in the United Kingdom did it become as widespread as in the United States. Spiritualist organizations were formed in America and Europe, such as the London Spiritualist Alliance, which published a newspaper called The Light, featuring articles such as "Evenings at Home in Spiritual Séance", "Ghosts in Africa" and "Chronicles of Spirit Photography", advertisements for "mesmerists" and patent medicines, and letters from readers about personal contact with ghosts. In Britain, by 1853, invitations to tea among the prosperous and fashionable often included table-­‐turning, a type of séance in which spirits would communicate with people seated around a table by tilting and rotating the table. Page | 10 History of the Bicycle The first mechanically-­‐propelled, two-­‐wheeled vehicle may have been built by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, in 1839, although the claim is often disputed. He is also associated with the first recorded instance of a cycling traffic offense, when a Glasgow newspaper in 1842 reported an accident in which an anonymous "gentleman from Dumfries-­‐shire... bestride a velocipede... of ingenious design" knocked over a little girl in Glasgow and was fined five shillings. In the early 1860s, Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement took bicycle design in a new direction by adding a mechanical crank drive with pedals on an enlarged front wheel (the velocipede). Another French inventor named Douglas Grasso had a failed prototype of Pierre Lallement's bicycle several years earlier. Several inventions followed using rear-­‐wheel drive, the best known being the rod-­‐driven velocipede by Scotsman Thomas McCall in 1869. In that same year, bicycle wheels with wire spokes were patented by Eugène Meyer of Paris. The French vélocipède, made of iron and wood, developed into the "penny-­‐farthing" (historically known as an "ordinary bicycle", a retronym, since there was then no other kind). It featured a tubular steel frame on which were mounted wire-­‐spoked wheels with solid rubber tires. These bicycles were difficult to ride due to their high seat and poor weight distribution. In 1868 Rowley Turner, a sales agent of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company (which soon became the Coventry Machinist Company), brought a Michaux cycle to Coventry, England. His uncle, Josiah Turner, and business partner James Starley, used this as a basis for the 'Coventry Model' in what became Britain's first cycle factory. The dwarf ordinary addressed some of these faults by reducing the front wheel diameter and setting the seat further back. This, in turn, required gearing—effected in a variety of ways—to efficiently use pedal power. Having to both pedal and steer via the front wheel remained a problem. J. K. Starley (nephew of James Starley), J. H. Lawson, and Shergold solved this problem by introducing the chain drive (originated by the unsuccessful "bicyclette" of Englishman Henry Lawson), connecting the frame-­‐mounted cranks to the rear wheel. These models were known as safety bicycles, dwarf safeties, or upright bicycles for their lower seat height and better weight distribution, although without pneumatic tires the ride of the smaller-­‐
wheeled bicycle would be much rougher than that of the larger-­‐wheeled variety. Starley's 1885 Rover, manufactured in Coventry is usually described as the first recognizably modern bicycle. Soon the seat tube was added, creating the modern bike's double-­‐triangle diamond frame. Further innovations increased comfort and ushered in a second bicycle craze, the 1890s Golden Age of Bicycles. In 1888, Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop introduced the first practical pneumatic tire, which soon became universal. Soon after, the rear freewheel was developed, enabling the rider to coast. This refinement led to the 1890s invention of coaster brakes. Dérailleur gears and hand-­‐operated Bowden cable-­‐pull brakes were also developed during Page | 11 these years, but were only slowly adopted by casual riders. By the turn of the century, cycling clubs flourished on both sides of the Atlantic, and touring and racing became widely popular. Bicycles and horse buggies were the two mainstays of private transportation just prior to the automobile, and the grading of smooth roads in the late 19th century was stimulated by the widespread advertising, production, and use of these devices. Page | 12 To A Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run; Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. The pale purple even Melts around thy flight; Like a star of Heaven, In the broad day-­‐light Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight, Keen as are the arrows Of that silver sphere, Whose intense lamp narrows In the white dawn clear Until we hardly see, we feel that it is there. All the earth and air With thy voice is loud, As, when night is bare, From one lonely cloud The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflow'd. What thou art we know not; What is most like thee? From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see As from thy presence showers a rain of melody. Page | 13 Like a Poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not: Like a high-­‐born maiden In a palace-­‐tower, Soothing her love-­‐laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower: Like a glow-­‐worm golden In a dell of dew, Scattering unbeholden Its a{:e}real hue Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view: Like a rose embower'd In its own green leaves, By warm winds deflower'd, Till the scent it gives Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy-­‐winged thieves: Sound of vernal showers On the twinkling grass, Rain-­‐awaken'd flowers, All that ever was Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass. Teach us, Sprite or Bird, What sweet thoughts are thine: I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine. Chorus Hymeneal, Or triumphal chant, Match'd with thine would be all But an empty vaunt, A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want. What objects are the fountains Of thy happy strain? What fields, or waves, or mountains? What shapes of sky or plain? What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain? Page | 14 With thy clear keen joyance Languor cannot be: Shadow of annoyance Never came near thee: Thou lovest: but ne'er knew love's sad satiety. Waking or asleep, Thou of death must deem Things more true and deep Than we mortals dream, Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream? We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Yet if we could scorn Hate, and pride, and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever should come near. Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground! Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know, Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow The world should listen then, as I am listening now. Page | 15 About the Play Blithe Spirit Blithe Spirit was first seen in the West End in 1941, creating a new long-­‐run record (1,997 performances) for a non-­‐
musical British play. It also did well on Broadway later that year, running for 657 performances. Coward adapted the play for film in 1945, starring Rex Harrison, and directed a musical adaptation, High Spirits, on Broadway in 1964. It was also adapted for television in the 1950s and 1960s and for radio. The play enjoyed several West End and Broadway revivals in the 1970s and 1980s and was revived again in London in 2004, 2011 and 2014. It returned to Broadway in February 2009. The original West End cast was as follows: Charles Condomine: Cecil Parker Ruth Condomine: Fay Compton Elvira Condomine: Kay Hammond Madame Arcati: Margaret Rutherford Doctor Bradman: Martin Lewis Mrs. Bradman: Moya Nugent Edith: Ruth Reeves After the first performance in Manchester, the reviewer in The Manchester Guardian thought the mixture of farce and impending tragedy "An odd mixture and not untouched by genius of a sort". After the London premiere, Ivor Brown commented in The Observer on the skill with which Coward had treated his potentially difficult subject; he ended his notice, "But here is a new play, a gay play, and one irresistibly propelled into our welcoming hearts by Miss Rutherford's Lady of the Trances, as rapt a servant of the séance as ever had spirits on tap." The London correspondent of The Guardian wrote, "London received Mr. Noel Coward's ghoulish farce with loud, though not quite unanimous acclaim. There was a solitary boo – from an annoyed spiritualist, presumably." The Times considered the piece the equal not only of Coward's earlier success Hay Fever, but also of Wilde's classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. There were dissenting views. James Agate thought the play "common", and Graham Greene called it "a wearisome exhibition of bad taste". When the piece had its first West End revival in 1970, the play was warmly (though not rapturously) praised by the critics, but by the time of the next major production, in 1976, Irving Wardle of The Times considered, "Stylistically, it is Coward's masterpiece: his most complete success in imposing his own view of things on the brute facts of existence," and Michael Page | 16 Billington of The Guardian wrote of Coward's influence on Harold Pinter. 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. [It is] the outrageous frivolity with which Coward treats mortality that makes the piece so bracing." Page | 17 About the Playwright Sir Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (b. Dec. 16, 1899, Teddington, near London, Eng.— d. March 26, 1973, St. Mary, Jam.), English play-­‐
wright, actor, and composer best known for highly polished comedies of manners. Coward appeared professionally as an actor from the age of 12. Between acting engagements, he wrote such light comedies as I’ll Leave It to You (1920) and The Young Idea (1923), but his reputation as a playwright was not established until the serious play The Vortex (1924), which was highly successful in London. In 1925 the first of his durable comedies, Hay Fever, opened in London. Coward ended the decade with his most popular musical play, Bitter Sweet (1929). Another of his classic comedies, Private Lives (1930), is often revived. It shares with Design for Living (1933) a worldly milieu and characters unable to live with or without one another. His patriotic pageant of British history, Cavalcade (1931), traced an English family from the time of the South African (Boer) War through the end of World War I. Other successes included Tonight at Eight-­‐thirty (1936), a group of one-­‐act plays performed by Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, with whom he often played. He rewrote one of the short plays, Still Life, as the film Brief Encounter (1946). Present Laughter (1939) and Blithe Spirit (1941; filmed 1945; musical version, High Spirits, 1964) are usually listed among his better comedies. In his plays Coward caught the clipped speech and brittle disillusion of the generation that emerged from World War I. His songs and revue sketches also struck the world-­‐weary note of his times. Coward had another style, sentimental but theatrically effective, that he used for romantic, backward-­‐glancing musicals and for plays constructed around patriotism or some other presumably serious theme. He performed almost every function in the theatre—including producing, directing, dancing, and singing in a quavering but superbly timed and articulate baritone—and acted in, wrote, and directed motion pictures as well. Coward’s Collected Short Stories appeared in 1962, followed by a further selection, Bon Voyage, in 1967. Pomp and Circumstance (1960) is a light novel, and Not Yet the Dodo (1967) is a collection of verse. His autobiography through 1931 appeared as Present Indicative (1937) and was extended through his wartime years in Future Indefinite (1954); a third volume, Past Conditional, was incomplete at his death. Among his more notable songs are “Mad Dogs and Englishmen,” “I’ll See You Again,” “Some Day I’ll Find You,” “Poor Little Rich Girl,” “Mad About the Boy,” and “Marvellous Party.” Coward was knighted in 1970. He spent his last years chiefly in the Caribbean and Switzerland. One of his previously unpublished plays, The Better Half, last performed in 1922 and thought to have been lost, was rediscovered in 2007. That same year a collection of his letters was published as The Letters of Noël Coward. Page | 18