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Blithe Spirit

By Noël Coward
Directed by Hector Correa

July 23 through August 21, 2010
And Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Charles Condo mine, a successful novelist, wishes to learn about the occult for a novel he is writing, and he arranges for an eccentric medium, Madame Arcati, to hold a séance at his house. At the séance, she inadvertently summons Charles's first wife, Elvira, who has been dead for seven years.

Madame Arcati leaves after the séance, unaware that she has summoned Elvira. Only Charles can see or hear Elvira, and his second wife, Ruth, does not believe that Elvira exists until a floating vase is handed to her out of thin air.

The ghostly Elvira makes continued, and increasingly desperate, efforts to disrupt Charles's current marriage. She finally sabotages his car in the hope of killing him so that he will join her in the spirit world, but it is Ruth rather than Charles who drives off and is killed.

The title of the play is taken from Shelley's poem "To a Skylark". After his London office and apartment had been destroyed in The Blitz, Coward wrote Blithe Spirit in 1941 during a holiday that he took with actress Joyce Carey to Portmeirion on the coast of Snowdonia in Wales. He wrote it straight through from beginning to end while staying at the Fountain 2 (Upper Fountain) suite at Portmeirion and only two lines of dialogue were removed before its first production in London. In his autobiography Coward claimed he wrote the play in five days.


The Performers

Edith, the maid Jody Christian
Charles Condomine Stanley Spenger
Ruth Condomine Shannon Veon Kase
Dr. George Bradman John F. Hurst
Violet Bradman Jeanette Sarmiento
Madame Arcati Chris Macomber
Elvira Condomine Erin J. Hoffman

 

Production

Director Hector Correa
Producer Jerome Solberg
Stage Manager Jose Garcia
Costume Designer Helen Slomowitz
Set Designer Rose Anne Raphael
Lighting Designer Alecks Rundell
Light Board Operator Morgan Brown
Light Board Operator Lizette Greijbe
Sound Operator Nayla El-Haber
Sound Operator Catalina Macdonald
Graphics / Poster Shu Ping
Press & Lobby Photos Tiffany Boswell

Press Photo Downloads

Rose Anne Raphael, Set Designer Download High Resolution Version

Erin J. Hoffman (left)

and Stanley Spenger (right)

Download High Resolution Version

Photo by Tiffany Boswell

   

Shannon Veon Kase (left)

and Chris Macomber (right)

Download High Resolution Version

Photo by Tiffany Boswell


Ensemble

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward, directed by Hector Correa will be performed July 23 through August 21, 2010. Friday and Saturday at 8pm, plus an additional performance Thursday, August 19th, 2010

All performances begin at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $15 or $12 for seniors and students (with ID).

Download larger photo
 

 

Jody Christian

As Edith, the maid

 


Stanley Spenger

As Charles Condomine

 

 

Shannon Veon Kase

As Ruth Condomine


John F. Hurst

As Dr. George Bradman

 

 

Jeanette Sarmiento

As Violet Bradman


Chris Macomber

As Madame Arcati

 

 

Erin Hoffman

As Elvira Condomine


  • Description:

    Erin J. Hoffman and Stanley Spenger (L to R)

  • Description:

    Rose Anne Raphael, Set Designer


 Additional Downloads

Play Program Download PDF
Play Poster Download PDF
Play Press Release Download PDF
Directors Comments Video Link to You Tube
Play Postcard Download PDF

Thank You

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley is delighted to acknowledge the Berkeley Civic Arts Program and Civic Arts Commission's support in the form of a grant of $8,000.00 awarded in 2017. Also, a thank you to Theatre Bay Area for a grant of $2,500.00.

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Actors Ensemble of Berkeley - P.O. Box 663 - Berkeley - California - 94701 ¦ Our Answering Service: (510) 649-5999 ¦

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Federal Tax ID #946139640, since 04-1967