Garland Civic Theatre’s presentation of Blithe Spirit opens Oct. 25 and runs through Nov. 10. This hauntingly funny tale, directed by Carol M. Rice, will entertain and delight audiences.
Skeptical novelist Charles Condomine invites self-proclaimed medium Madame Arcati to his home for a séance hoping to gather material for a new book. When the psychic accidentally summons the spirit of Condomine’s late wife, Elvira, to his home, his life is quickly turned into a shambles as his first wife’s ghost torments both him and his new bride, Ruth.
The title of the play is taken from English writer Percy Shelley’s poem To a Skylark (“Hail to Thee, Blithe Spirit!” Playwright Noël Coward wrote the show after his office was destroyed in The Blitz. With death on his mind, the play was written from start to finish in seven days.
Blithe Spirit was first launched in London in the West End in 1941. It ran for nearly 2,000 performances, breaking a record for a non-musical play in London. The show then went on to Broadway and was quickly adapted for film.
Musical, radio and television adaptations of the play have been broadcast in Britain and the U.S. since 1944. A recent movie was released in 2020. Blithe Spirit continues to be revived in the West End, on Broadway and in regional and local theaters internationally.