Director's Notes

This year, we are celebrating one hundred years of theatre at the University of New Hampshire, and the department wanted to commemorate shows from seasons past. When the new Paul Creative Arts Center opened in 1960, Blithe Spirit was part of the inaugural season in the Johnson Theatre. It seemed a wonderful tribute to choose Mr. Coward’s popular play.

In 1941, Noël Coward escaped London and the Nazi bombs of the Blitz to take a break in the seaside resort of Portmeirion. It was here that he wrote Blithe Spirit in six days. The Noël Coward Archive Trust addresses the timing of this light comedy being produced during war:
“As Brad Rosenstein, curator of the Noël Coward: Art & Style exhibition notes, “Death was an imminent possibility for every member of the audience. That Coward could touch such a potent immediate nerve and transform it into delightful entertainment is a vivid demonstration of what a truly daring playwright he was. People desperately needed to laugh, and the play is hilariously funny. For its first audiences, just the act of dressing up and going to the theatre through the devastation and rubble, risking your life for a good laugh, must have seemed like an act of patriotic defiance.” (https://www.noelcoward.com/blog/hail-to-thee-blithe-spirit)

Coward later recalled about his most popular play, “disdaining archness and false modesty, I will admit that I knew it was witty, I knew it was well constructed, and I also knew that it would be a success.” That attitude drips from most of Coward’s characters in this play.

The play is considered High Comedy which, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, “employs sophisticated wit and often satirizes the upper classes”. The language in this play is verbose, highly polished wit that proved to be a wonderful acting challenge for both the principals and the understudies. This period and style piece is almost like a different language which the actors had to learn how to speak. On top of that, they also had to learn British or Cockney dialects. It is a significant challenge to take on comedy of manners. The company worked from the beginning to create movement and gestures that fit the period. It is never easy to step back in time, but these performers have embraced the challenge and risen to meet it.

Blithe Spirit explores the lives of a middle-aged novelist and his second wife who are haunted by the man’s first wife after an earnest, well-meaning medium opens a door to the “other side”. Is love meant to last forever? This play looks at that query through a charming, absurd lens.

Noël Coward said, “Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade.” Dinner is served. We sincerely hope you enjoy our efforts…and the caviar.

--Raina Ames

 Special Thanks to Mary Beth Marino, and Habitat for Humanity's ReStore furniture resale store in Newington, NH for the lending of some of the props and furniture for the production