Keith & Riding Bring Blithe Spirit to Savoy, 22 NovDate: 25 October 2004
As previously tipped (See The Goss, 14 Oct 2004), the Peter Hall Company production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit will transfer to the West End’s Savoy Theatre next month at the conclusion of its current regional tour. It opens on 22 November 2004 (previews from 16 November) and is initially booking up to 28 May 2005.
Penelope Keith leads the cast in Thea Sharrock’s new revival, which was first seen this past August as part of Hall’s second repertory season at Bath’s Theatre Royal (See News, 8 Jul 2004). Coward wrote the comedy in just seven days, while staying at Portmeirion in 1941, after his London office and apartment had been destroyed in the Blitz. He felt the public needed something fun and escapist during the darkest days of the war. It opened in the West End just two months later and became a box office hit. The 1945 film starred Rex Harrison and Margaret Rutherford.
In Blithe Spirit, Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth hold a séance so that he can learn the tricks of the trade as research for his new novel. What begins as after-dinner entertainment becomes a life-changing experience when the eccentric medium Madame Arcati inadvertently conjures up the ghost of Charles’ first wife Elvira, who’s determined to win him back.
Well known for her classic TV sitcom roles in The Good Life and To the Manor Born, Keith, who plays Arcati, is an accomplished stage actress whose many recent credits include Time and the Conways, Star Quality, On Approval, Relatively Speaking, How the Other Half Loves, Glyn and It, Mrs Warren's Profession and Good Grief.
West End diva Joanna Riding plays Ruth. In addition to My Fair Lady and Carousel, for which she won her two Best Actress in a Musical Olivier Awards, Riding’s many musical credits include Me and My Girl, Lady Be Good, The Witches of Eastwick and Guys and Dolls. She’s increasingly ventured into straight drama with productions of Hobson’s Choice and The Happiest Days of Your Life at Manchester’s Royal Exchange.
Also in the cast of Blithe Spirit are Aden Gillett (as Charles) and Amanda Drew (Elvira). Last year in Hall’s inaugural season at Bath, Gillett starred in Design for Living and Betrayal, which transferred to the West End. Drew’s stage credits include Madame Bovary, Damages and the RSC’s Jacobean season, for which she was nominated for last year’s Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer.
Blithe Spirit is designed by Simon Higlett, with lighting by Peter Mumford. It’s presented on tour by Duncan C Weldon and Paul Elliott for Triumph Entertainments Ltd and Theatre Royal Bath Productions.
The Savoy has been dark since 16 October 2004, when the troubled salsa-inspired musical Murderous Instincts closed just a little more than a week after its West End opening (See News, 14 Oct 2004).
- by Terri Paddock
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