"Blithe Spirit" by Noel Coward at Savoy Theatre from 16 Nov 2004 starring Penelope Keith

"Blithe Spirit" by Noel Coward at Savoy Theatre from 16 Nov 2004 starring Penelope Keith

The Peter Hall Company production of Blithe Spirit, by Noel Coward, opens at the Savoy Theatre 22 Nov 2004, following previews from 16 Nov 2004, and booking to 28 May 2005.

The cast includes: Penelope Keith (Madame Arcati), Joanna Riding (Ruth Condomine), Michelle Terry (Edith), Aden Gillett (Chrles Condomine), Derek Hutchinson (Dr Bradman), Barbra Kirby (Mrs Bradman), Amanda Drew (Elvira).

It is directed by Thea Sharrock , designed by Simon Higlett, lighting by Peter Mumford, and sound by Gareth Fry.

Blithe Spirit is Coward's own favourite play, which he wrote in a flush of almost supernatural inspiration in 1941. It remained the longest running comedy in British theatre for three decades.

Author and socialite Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth decide to hold a seance as an after dinner entertainment. Their lives are soon turned upside down when the wildly eccentric medium Madame Arcati inadvertently conjures up the ghost of Charles' deceased first wife Elvira, who forthwith begins a blithe and spirited campaigne to reclaim her husband!