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To be confirmed.
Performance Dates
16 September 2021 - 6 November 2021
Run time: 2 hours 20 minutes (including interval)
Includes interval
20 reviews
Following a groundbreaking run at the Theatre Royal Bath in summer 2019, the critically-acclaimed revival of Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward transferred to London’s West End for a strictly limited run. The show had just opened in London before closing due to Lockdown, but the show is set to return this Autumn 2021. Sketch show French and Saunders actress Jennifer Saunders, who played Madame Arcati in the Blithe Spirit Bath cast previously, has been confirmed to be reprising her role for the highly-anticipated, seven-week run at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre in spring 2020. Tickets for the West End transfer of this Noel Coward revival are now booking!
Novelist Charles Condomine is researching material for a new mystery book he’s writing. He invites an eccentric medium known as Madame Arcati over to his home to perform a séance. It’s not long before the ghost whisperer conjures up the spirit of Charles’ first wife, Elvira. Soon Charles and his second wife Ruth are haunted by his past, literally, as the poltergeist, who is only visible to Charles, is hell-bent on sabotaging his marriage with Ruth. Soon both life and the afterlife get a whole lot more complicated. Will the Condomines’ relationship be torn to pieces by the ghost of an ex-wife?
The Blithe Spirit cast list for the West End run is headlined by Jennifer Saunders, who returns to the role of the kooky Madame Arcati. Saunders is joined by Geoffrey Streatfeild as Charles and Lisa Dillon as Ruth Condomine.
Jennifer Saunders is best known for appearing in French and Saunders alongside Dawn French, both of whom won a BAFTA Fellowship Award in 2009. Saunders’ other most notable credits include the popular comedy series and subsequent film spin-off, Absolutely Fabulous (1992-2012), for which she both wrote and starred in, a minor role as Andrea Waltham on two episodes of Friends, Edina Monsoon (a crossover from Absolutely Fabulous) on Roseanne (1996), and Mrs. Bluveridge in Muppet Treasure Island (1996). The award-winning actress has also lent her voice for a number of memorable roles in both television and film, including The Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2 (2004), Miss Spink in Coraline (2009), Queen Elizabeth II in Minions (2015), and Phoebe on a 2017 episode of The Simpsons.
Geoffrey Streatfield’s (Charles) credits include The Thick of It (TV), Spooks: The Greater Good (film), Traitors, Histories Cycle for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language at the Royal Court Theatre, and the film Match Point.
Lisa Dillon’s (Ruth) prior credits include the role of Mary Smith at Cranford on BBC1, Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Hamlet at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), Othello with the RSC at Trafalgar Studios, Tennessee Williams’ Period of Adjustment, and The Taming of the Shrew for the RSC. Dillon won an Ian Charleson Award in 2003 for her performance as Hilda Wangel in Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder, a role which also earned her an Evening Standard Award nomination for Outstanding Newcomer of the Year.
Blithe Spirit is directed by five-time Olivier Award winner and Director of the National Theatre Richard Eyre and features illusions by Paul Kieve, lighting by Howard Harrison, sound by John Leonard, and design by Anthony Ward, whose work includes the Olivier Award-winning Oklahoma! and the Tony Award-winning production of Mary Stuart, which saw the two main actresses swap roles before a performance at the flip of a coin.
Richard Eyre is a highly-prolific director both on stage and for the big and small screens. Recent stage work of his include an adaptation of Noël Coward's Private Lives on Broadway starring Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall and Due South actor Paul Gross, The Pajama Game at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and The Light Sky and The Dark Earth at the Almeida Theatre. Other notable stage credits include directing Mary Poppins The Musical both on Broadway and in the West End, Tennessee Iguana’s Night of the Iguana, Richard III starring Ian McKellen, Guys and Dolls, Hamlet, and the operas La traviata, Bizet’s Carmen, and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Eyre’s screen credits include Iris starring Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent and Kate Winslet, Henry IV, Parts I and II, and The Hollow Crown series on BBC, and The Children Act.
London theatre tickets for Blithe Spirit are in high demand. Be sure to book your Blithe Spirit tickets for the seven-week run at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London whilst they're still available!
IMPORTANT: What to bring with you to the theatre We hope you enjoy your trip to the theatre, but need to make sure you, our staff and the rest of the audience are safe. Upon arrival, as well as your eTickets, all members of your party over the age of 18 must demonstrate their Covid-19 status to gain entry in ONE of the following ways: · ** Full vaccination** (first and second dose), and with the second dose administered at least 14 days before your visit; or · A negative lateral flow test taken within 48 hours of your visit; or · Proof of natural immunity (positive PCR test within the last six months, after self-isolation has ended and up to 180 days after taking the test).
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