Ryedale District Council supports the Ryedale Festival.

Helmsley Arts Centre

1812 Theatre Company - Blithe Spirit

Coward Blithe Spirit
John Roberts, director

The original playbill for Blithe Spirit announced that ‘if an air raid warning be received during the performance the audience will be informed from the stage… those desiring to leave the theatre may do so but the performance will continue.’

One of Coward’s most popular plays, he wrote it in six days during the blitz in 1941 and called it ‘an unlikely farce’.

Intending to expose as a fraud Madame Arcati, a famous if eccentric medium, Charles invites her to hold a séance at his home. To his astonishment she conjures up the ghost of Elvira, his dead first wife, and that is where the ‘unlikely’ fun really starts.