BLITHE SPIRIT
BLITHE SPIRIT I Coward’s ghostly comedy gets an update.
Dan Stevens finds himself in a spirited love triangle.
It’s June 2019 and Teasers is stifling in the Richmond Theatre watching Judi Dench (in exotic turban and robes) being wheeled front of stage on a dolly platform to a packed house of ’30s-dressed extras. Emoting theatrically as Madam Arcati, Noel Coward’s spiritualist lead in his frothy 1941 play, Dench is told to stand down by director Edward Hall, before a yellow weighted bag is hoisted skyward for an audience eyeline as post-prod digital trickery will see Dench levitate. Of course, the production isn’t going to have actual national treasure Dench actually dangling from the ceiling: “No dames will be harmed in the making of this film!” jokes producer/screenwriter Nick Moorcroft, sotto voce.
Timed to release on the 100th anniversary of Coward making his West End debut play, Blithe Spirit isn’t only taking care of its Dames, but also hoping to open up the work of the prolific Coward to a new audience.
“I want people to come and enjoy this and then discover who Noel Coward is,” admits Hall. “People who might not normally find themselves in row E of a theatre somewhere watching Private Lives or whatever.”
The plot follows the endeavours of narcissistic crime novelist Charles (Dan Stevens), who attempts to fix his writer’s block via a séance performed by Madam Acarti only to find it has evoked
the spirit of his dead first wife, Elvira (Leslie Mann). The farce sees Charles torn between his current spouse Ruth (Isla Fisher) and Elvira, who tries to kill him so she can steal him to the afterlife.
“The story always made me laugh a lot,” says Hall. “It’s such a such a simple but great premise for an uproarious comedy about death. I wanted to put this story on screen because it lifts my spirits – no pun intended – and I hope it lifts everyone else’s a bit. This might be quite a good moment to give people a little bit of relief from the darkness around us.”
Hall worked with writers Moorcroft, Meg Leonard and Piers Ashworth to open Coward’s characters up – giving Madam Arcati a new, romantic backstory and ensuring the two wives orbiting Charles “get what they deserve and give [the film] a more contemporary feel”. But that’s not to say Coward purists should start to worry about the second film adaptation (after David Lean’s celebrated 1945 version) veering too far from its original source material. “This adaptation is very different
[from David Lean’s]. But I was very concerned to keep the DNA of the original true and in terms of what we were doing with it, to root that in what was originally there. I wanted to make sure that we didn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!” JC
ETA | 1 MAY / BLITHE SPIRIT OPENS IN TWO MONTHS.