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BLITHE SPIRIT: Know-The-Show Guide

BLITHE SPIRIT: Know-The-Show Guide

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey : Know-the-Show Guide

Blithe Spirit By Noël Coward

Know-the-Show Audience Guide

Researched and written by the Education Department of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

Cover art by Scott McKowen. The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey BLITHE SPIRIT: Know-the-Show Guide

In This Guide

– The Life of Noël Coward...... 2 – A Man with Style...... 4 – Séances and in Coward’s Day...... 5 – Blithe Spirit: A Synopsis...... 7 – Who’s Who in Blithe Spirit...... 8 – Explore Online: Links...... 9 – Commentary and Criticism...... 10 – In This Production...... 11 – The Music of Noël Coward...... 12 – Sources and Further Reading...... 13

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spending away from school because The Life of the theater, and at an auditorium- style performance by fortune- teller Anna Eva Fay, Mrs. Coward asked for advice on the upbringing Noël Coward of her son. Miss Fay replied, “Mrs. Noël Peirce Cowardof was born on December 16, 1899, in Coward, Mrs. Coward. You asked me Teddington, England. His parents, Arthur and Violet Veitch about your son. Keep him where he Coward, were not wealthy; his father was an unsuccessful piano is. He has a great talent and will have salesman. His mother gave him his name because of the close a wonderful career.” Violet never proximity of his birthday to Christmas. questioned his path again. While in Manchester with a young touring Violet took young Noël to the theater as often as possible. After company, Coward and his co-stars seeing a show, he was frequently able to play the greater part of were forced by law to attend school. the musical score from memory on the family piano. As a child, Coward announced to the teacher Noël Coward as a teenager, Noël had a lisp which forced him to develop his trademark that he had no intention of answering ca. 1914 (Source: Wikimedia Commons). clipped, staccato speech to mask it. At the age of six, he started any questions, and if he should be working as a child actor. Charles Hawtrey had seen Noël perform punished in any way he would go and instantly recognized his potential. Hawtrey recruited him for back to . From that moment on he sat in the back of the a production of The Great Name and used him again in 1911 in classroom reading whatever book he chose. A lifetime of reading the premiere of Where the Rainbow Ends, which became such a and keen observation made up for his lack of formal education. popular show that it was revived every year at Christmas-time for 40 years. Coward returned for three of those years and learned In 1921, at the age of 22, Coward left England and went to stagecraft and playwriting from Hawtrey. City. He arrived with very little money and just before the theaters closed for the hot summer. His hope of selling Coward did not receive a very traditional education. At one point, his plays to American theatre companies fell through immediately. his mother became concerned about how much time he was He was broke, hungry, and lonely. After surviving the summer

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that he cemented long-lasting and life- Did You Know? changing friendships with Lynn Fontanne 1) Noël Coward and Alfred Lunt. One evening over worked undercover for dinner, the three friends predicted British Intelligence during they would all become international WWII.

superstars of equal magnitude, and 2) Coward was offered, and they prophesied that Coward would turned down, the role of Dr. write the perfect play in which all No in Ian Fleming’s Dr. No, a James Bond film starring Sean three of them would star. This self- Connery. prophecy, like the fortune-teller’s pronouncement, would come true – 3) Coward started the turtleneck fashion fad though not for another 12 years, when of the 1920s. Coward’s play Design for Living provided the opportunity of which he and the Lunts had dreamed.

On his 25th birthday, Coward’s first big hit, The Vortex, premiered in London’s West End. Shortly after opening this show, two more – Fallen Angels and On With the Dance – were up and running in the West End. This was the beginning of the high degree of celebrity that Coward enjoyed for the rest of his life. Until his death on Noël Coward in 1972 in a picture taken for his last Christmas card. March 3, 1973, Noël Coward continued to work as a dramatist, Photograph by Allan Warren (Source: Wikimedia Commons). actor, writer, composer, lyricist, and painter. He wrote over 140 on meager means, he managed to sell two short stories, “I’ll plays and hundreds of songs. Three years before he died, he was Leave It To You” and “The Young Idea,” for $500 each. He used knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. this money to improve his situation and pay back his debts to those who had helped him through the summer. It was at this time

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A Man with In the early to mid-20th century, when Coward began writing, English comedy was characterized by a stereotypical English repression. Coward, however, attacked taboo subjects. While Coward explored heterosexual relations overtly, he commented on homosexual orientation in more subtle ways – enough to spark style the attention of the new generation without explicitly offending Noël Coward is known for a the older generation. The word “gay” had not yet become very distinct style in both his synonymous with “homosexual,” and, according to scholar Alan writing and his personality. Sinfield, Coward used this to his advantage “stretching [the word’s] His work explores many social connotations—almost playing on the fact that there [was] not issues but also epitomizes a specific homosexual implication.” His songs also dealt with glamorous living through homosexuality via seemingly innocent lyrics, as Coward reveled the structure, language, and in the misunderstanding of a large portion of his audience who did content of his plays. not read between the lines.

Similar to before Coward’s plays, with their unique and sophisticated veneer, him, Coward makes heavy use are as much social commentary as they are entertainment. By of paradox. He first draws the ending his plays with a sense of life continuing after the curtain audience in with charm and has descended, Coward leads the audience to question societal A 1932 portrait of Noël Coward by humor and then reveals the Edward Steichen (Source: Whitney norms in their own lives. By confronting social conventions in this Museum). foibles or hypocrisies in the way, Coward did not endear himself to everyone. But as he once characters that have won our wrote, “I write what I wish to write — later the world can decide affection. Clever use of language is key to Coward’s development [what to think about it] if it wishes to. There will always be a few of character. Always eloquent, his characters often use biting wit people, anyway, in every generation, who will find my work to mask their emotional states. Strategic use of song and music entertaining and true.” also helps dictate the tempo and mood of individual scenes, and Coward’s precise writing guides the actors through intense psychological and often comic minefields.

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mediums began to spring up around the country and in Britain. Popular mediums of the day included the Séances & Davenport Brothers, Leafy Anderson, and Paschal Beverly Randolph. Spiritualism In order to earn a living, these mediums would either perform on in Coward’s Day stage or hold a séance at someone’s Spiritualism and séances (from the archaic French word seoir, home – for a fee. Each medium meaning to sit) first rose to popularity in 1848 when three sisters in had their own unique method of New York – Leah, Margaret, and Kate Fox – claimed that they could contacting the dead: communicate with a spirit that was haunting their home. In order to •The and the The Fox Sisters. From left to right: Davenport Brothers used knocks Margaret, Kate, and Leah. prove that they were telling the truth, they sat around a table in their (Source: Wikipedia.) local town hall in the presence of 400 people and asked the spirit a on a table in order receive number of questions. Their method of communication was a series answers to the questions they of knocks on the table: one for yes and two for no. They quickly rose posed to the spirit world. to fame and traveled the country with their act, acquiring the title of •Leafy Anderson used a in the spiritual realm in order “mediums,” referring to their assumed ability to convey or transmit to communicate with people on the other side. She claimed that spiritual energy her spirit guide was the Native American Chief Black Hawk of or force. the Sauk Tribe. As a result, •Paschal Beverly Randolph would go into a trance and channel a many other spirit that would speak to her audience.

While frequently convincing, these mediums used a number of tricks in order to give the illusion that what they claimed was true: A séance depicted in •When sitting at a séance table, the participants — including an old film still. Source unknown. the medium — began by joining hands. Thus in order to achieve the effect of knocks on the table, the medium would knock the table with their knees as their

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1881 by Edmund Rogers and William F. Barrett in order to understand hands were joined with the other participants. events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. •For trance mediums, like , a substance referred However, as the majority of the mediums operating in the country to as “” was often seen leaking out of their mouth were frauds, the investigations by or ears. It was considered to be the physical manifestation of the society proved (more often spiritual energy and would often take the shape of the spirit or than not) that these mediums were ghost they were attempting to contact. This effect was typically merely con men. This occurred achieved with damp lace, cheesecloth, or gauze wrapped so frequently that one of their around a photograph. most prominent members, Arthur •Some mediums, such as Eva Carrière, convinced their Conan Doyle coordinated a mass audiences that a spirit had appeared in the room by revealing resignation, including himself a cardboard cutout, or in some instances an assistant dressed and 84 other members, as he felt up like the person they were trying to contact. that the society was opposed to Spiritualism rather than being Noël Coward’s first encounter with the was when he was 11 supportive of it years old. His mother didn’t know whether Noël should return to school or continue to work as a child actor, so she brought him to see the famous American stage medium Annie Fay to seek her advice. When she had her opportunity to ask Fay her question, the reply was, “Keep him where he is. He has a great talent and will have ABOVE: Bess Houdini a wonderful career.” While Fay made a correct attending an annual séance prediction in this case, she had already been on Halloween in an attempt “outed” as a fraud by many scientists investigating to contact the spirit of her famous husband, Harry mediums and spiritualists of the day. However, this Houdini, 1936. (Source: did not hinder her career as there were many who wikipedia.) still believed in her abilities. LEFT: (in the center) seems to levitate a table during a Many believers in the UK were also part of the spirit session. (Source: Society of Psychical Research. It was founded in en.wikipedia.org

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communicate to Madame Arcati that there is someone on the other side who would like to speak with Charles. Madame Arcati suddenly slumps over in a trance and Elvira appears, but only to Charles. He frantically Blithe Spirit wakes Madame Arcati from her trance and vehemently denies that he A Synopsis heard or saw anything. Madame Arcati leaves disappointed but Dr. Bradman and Mrs. Bradman leave quite entertained by the evening. SPOILER ALERT: The following includes some details about the play that you may wish to wait to discover until viewing the production. To Once the guests are gone, Ruth takes notice of Charles’ irritability, and he avoid giving away the ending, we have only included a description of tries to explain that he saw Elvira. Ruth doesn’t believe him and accuses the first two acts of the play. him of trying to play tricks on her. At the mention of her name, Elvira re- appears and suggests that Charles send Ruth out of the room so they can On a summer evening in the Kent countryside, Ruth Condomine and be alone together, but Ruth only sees Charles talking to thin air. Upset, her maid, Edith, are preparing for a dinner party with her husband, Ruth leaves to go to bed, while Elvira coxes Charles to reminisce about Charles (a novelist), and their friends, Dr. and Mrs. Bradman. This is no their married life. ordinary dinner party however, as Charles has also invited Madame Arcati, a medium, in order to gather research for his new novel about The following morning, Ruth still does not believe that Charles saw a fraudulent medium. As they await their guests’ arrival, Ruth inquires Elvira, insisting he was drunk and perhaps is going mad. To prove Elvira’s about Charles’ deceased wife, Elvira. He recalls how Elvira loved to win presence, Charles asks her to carry a bowl of flowers to the mantel and games and how physically attractive, charming, and spirited she was. back. As she does so, Elvira shoves the bowl in Ruth’s face, frightening He assures Ruth that while he did love Elvira, it has been seven years her, but Ruth refuses to believe that Charles is telling the truth. since she passed away and that it is Ruth whom he loves now. In order to investigate Charles’ claims, Ruth asks Madame Arcati over to The Bradmans arrive promptly, eagerly anticipating Madame Arcati’s help decipher what is happening, while Charles is out with Elvira. Ruth arrival. Charles, Ruth, and their guests express doubts over Madame finally comes to terms with Elvira’s reappearance in their lives but then Arcati’s legitimacy, and when she arrives they are amused by her lets it slip that the only reason Charles invited Madame Arcati over was eccentric lifestyle and anecdotes. Once dinner and drinks have finished, to research his new novel. Madame Arcati, highly offended, promptly Madame Arcati begins her preparations for the séance. She turns the leaves, refusing to help the couple. When Charles returns with Elvira, lights down, turns a record on, and asks everyone to sit round the table he is upset that Ruth went to Madame Arcati behind his back. Ruth and join hands. She attempts to contact Daphne, a young child “on the quickly realizes that Charles is reluctant to get rid of Elvira and other side” who acts as her control so she can communicate with other tells him she is going to appeal to the Society for Psychical spirits in the afterlife. Daphne uses bumps and knocks on the table to Research to help her get rid of Elvira once and for all.

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AN RAPID SUCCESS “Blithe Spirit ‘fell into my mind and on to the manuscript,’ Coward later wrote of writing Blithe Spirit the play in less than a week. In a production Who’s Who schedule that seems unbelievably fast by today’s standards, the play opened at London’s CHARLES CONDOMINE: An upper-middle class novelist in his 40s who recently just six weeks later, on July 2, married Ruth, after his first wife (Elvira) tragically died seven years ago. 1941, and premiered on Broadway at the now- demolished on November 5, 1941. Even more amazing is the fact that only RUTH CONDOMINE: A smart and pragmatic woman in her 30s who doesn’t two lines were dropped and none were altered appear to be threatened by the memory of her husband’s ex-wife. during rehearsal of what the playwright dubbed “An Improbable Farce in Three Acts.” DR. BRADMAN: A local physician and friend to the Condomines who believes in logic and reason and is skeptical of Madame Arcati’s abilities. Coward correctly surmised that a comedy about death would resonate among audiences who MRS. BRADMAN: Wife to Dr. Bradman who, in contrast to her husband, finds the were, in real life, carrying on in a city under occult intriguing and exciting. daily threat of attack. Although novelist Graham Greene called Blithe Spirit ‘a weary exhibition MADAME ARCATI: A fearless and eccentric middle-aged local medium who of bad taste,’ the public loved it, and the play communicates regularly with people in the spiritual realm. went on to a record-setting London run of 1,997 performances. Without spoiling the well-plotted ELVIRA: The first wife of Charles, now a ghost, who is used to getting her own way ending, suffice it to say that the forces of death and loves to be the center of attention. are tamed in Blithe Spirit in a way that warmed the hearts of wartime theatergoers.” EDITH: The Condomines’ maid who carries out her duties at a fast sprint. -Kathy Henderson, “The Haunting History of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit,” Broadway.com, March 2009

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Explore Online

Investigate the New York Public Library’s extensive collection of Coward papers, photographs, videos, and more through their web exhibit: http://exhibitions.nypl.org/NoelCoward/index.html

Explore the archives of Noël Coward’s popular music: noelcowardmusic.com

Browse the Noël Coward Society website, which features information, a gallery, blog, and list of additional resources: http://www.noelcoward.net

9 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey BLITHE SPIRIT: Know-the-Show Guide Commentary Michael Billington, “The play’s the thing in a fine Noël Coward revival,” Criticism March 2014, : “It explores Coward’s belief in a life of unshackled freedom. In Hay Lyn Gardner, &“Blithe Spirit and theatre as séance: the lasting appeal of Fever and characters tiptoe away from domestic wrangles, spiritualism on stage,” March 2014, The Guardian: while Design For Living is a passionate plea for bohemian license. “When Coward wrote Blithe Spirit, the need to believe, particularly Blithe Spirit wittily extends the idea that the writer needs only an in an afterlife, was strong in a world that was being touched daily overnight bag without the extra burden of emotional baggage. The play by death. The audience for early performances had to pick their way is at its best, in fact, in the retrospective spats between Charles and his round a bomb crater to enter the theatre.” wives over an imperfect past to which the only answer is flight into an indefinite future.” Simon Callow, “Noël Coward’s blitz spirit,” February 2014, The Guardian: Richard Watts, November 1941, “Critic Finds Blithe Spirit A Natural for “Great surges of anxiety, hysteria and paranoia underlie the comedy Noël Coward,” The Washington Post: of Blithe Spirit. His audacity in putting mortality, however farcically “In the works of his which have tried to deal seriously with serious conceived, on stage at the height of a war which was wiping out emotions, a certain detachment from the problem evolved, a certain whole communities is breathtaking and characteristically fearless.” suggestion that the author never believed in or felt the yearnings and the heartaches he described, and has tended to give these plays a interview with Nancy Groves, “Why Noël damaging reality. In Blithe Spirit, on the contrary, this disturbing quality Coward’s shows must go on,” May 2014, The Guardian: has become a great virtue, rather than a handicap. It is in great part “Coward wrote such deft comedies and comedies of enough because this new comedy offers an air of detachment from the reality substance that they transcend changes in taste. And if someone has of its emotions that its potentially macabre theme seems so delightfully that ability, it endures.” comic. He [Coward] substitutes [for particular dramatic virtues] a devastating Noël Coward on the first night of Blithe Spirit: wit, a sharp eye, a fine satirical sense, a vast ingenuity, a shrewd “The audience, socially impeccable from the journalistic point of sense of the theater and a mind that certainly is not cursed with view, had to walk across planks laid over the rubble caused by a excessive romanticism, and when his gifts are functioning properly recent air raid to see a light comedy about death. They enjoyed it, I the result is both delightful and distinguished.” am glad to say, and it ran from that sunny summer evening through the remainder of the war and out the other side.” 10 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey BLITHE SPIRIT: Know-the-Show Guide

InThis Production

Right: Paint elevations and a white model of the scenic design by Charlie Calvert.

Below: Costume renderings by Hugh Hanson.

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The Characteristic Coward lyrics are especially witty, his words never lacking the flair found in his plays and productions. One representative example is the song “Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans,” a clever melody dripping with satire and sarcasm, of Noël Coward written during World War II. Coward explained that the lyrics were music written “as a satire directed against a small minority of excessive While Noël Coward was primarily known as a successful humanitarians, who, in my opinion, were taking a rather too playwright, he also made a huge artistic impact with his music. tolerant view of our enemies.” While the song was a favorite of Often referred to by contemporaries as the English , Winston Churchill’s, it was banned from the airwaves. Coward continually thought of new tunes to entertain all types of audiences. The classic Don’t let’s be beastly to the Germans. image of Coward holding a cigarette and You can’t deprive a gangster of his gun! a cocktail on a chaise lounge can make us Though they’ve been a little naughty forget that he spent hours and hours at his To the Czechs and Poles and Dutch, typewriter and piano, fixated on his newest I can’t believe those countries work. Really minded very much.

Beginning with a musical revue titled Let’s be free with them London Calling! in which he appeared with And share the BBC with them. , Coward’s musical career We mustn’t prevent them basking in the sun! Gertrude Lawrence and Noël Coward at the piano in flourished. And while Coward composed a 1931 production of Private Lives (Source: Bettmann/ Let’s soften their defeat again, over 140 tunes, such as “I’ll See You Again,” CORBIS). And build their bloody fleet again, “Mad About the Boy,” “I’ll Follow My Secret But don’t let’s be beastly to the Hun! Heart,” and “Someday I’ll Find You,” he did it all without learning to read or write music. In his later years, Coward turned further towards music as his newer plays fell out of favor with audiences. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988.

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Sources & Further Reading Atkinson, J. Brooks. “Mr. Coward Runs On.” New York Times 2 Dec 1927. Lahr, John. Coward: The Playwright. London, Methuen, 1982. Print. ProQuest. Web. Lesley, Cole, , and . Noël Coward and His Friends. Coward, Noël. “Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans.” Noël Coward New York: William Morrow and Company, 1979. Print. Songfacts. Songfacts, LLC. Web. Londré, Felicia Hardison. Words at Play: Creative Writing and Dramaturgy. Coward, Noël. The Letters of Noël Coward. Ed. Barry Day. Random House Southern Illinois University, 2005. Web. Digital, 2009. Web. Mander, Raymond & Joe Mitchenson. Theatrical Companion to Noel Coward. Coward, Noël. The Noël Coward Diaries. Ed. Graham Payn and Sheridan New York. Oberon Books; Revised edition, 1999. Print. Morley. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1982. Print. Morley, Sheridan. A Talent to Amuse: A Biography of Noël Coward. London: Coward, Noël. Present Indicative. New York: Doubleday Doran & Company, Haus Publishing, 2005. Web. Inc., 1937. Print. “Musicals.” The Music of Noël Coward. The Noël Coward Music Index. Web. Coward, Noël. Play Parade. New York: Doubleday Doran & Company, Inc., “Noël Coward Biography.” SongWriters Hall of Fame. Web. 1933. Print. Phillips, Robert. Preface. The Collected Stories of Noël Coward. New York: E.P. Cushman, Robert. “Arts & Life: [Toronto Edition].” National Post 10 June 2005. Dutton, Inc., 1983. Print. ProQuest. Web. Reside, Doug. Noël Coward at the New York Public Library for the Performing Gray, Frances. Modern Dramatists: Noël Coward. Palgrave Macmillan, 1987. Arts. New York Public Library, 2012. Web. Print. Hoare, Philip. Noël Coward: A Biography. New York. Simon & Schuster, 2013. Print. Innes, Christopher. Modern British Drama 1890-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print.

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