When the ghost of a temperamental first wife disrupts your second marriage

Noel Coward, that 20th-century Bard, needed escape in 1941 – escape from the Luftwaffe bombs that were falling on his neighbourhood and destroyed his London office at the height of the Blitz.

So, between acting gigs (or assignments for the Intrepid spy network?), Noel fled to Wales and crafted a play dealing with the spirit world that would transport audiences from the grim reality of death, which by then was a constant presence.

The result was “Blithe Spirit”, and once it landed on the London stage, it ran for close to five years.

South Simcoe Theatre opens its version of the Coward classic Thursday, Feb. 2, running through Feb. 19.

Director Candy Pryce emphasizes that Coward was not aiming to make a serious statement about the great beyond, but “was seeking to create a light, entertaining play that mocked the facades and behaviours of the British upper middle class (his own class, by this point in his life.)

“For himself and his audience, the play acted as a welcome respite from the war and an opportunity to laugh at their own foibles.”

The play is peopled by characters who were largely unsympathetic, and by design (“If there was a heart,” Coward said of the play, “it would be a sad story.”)

It centres on a novelist, Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium Madame Arcati to his house, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first wife, Elvira, after the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost.

Pryce pays kudos to Baron Watson and Raffaela Gardhouse, who play the main couple.

“They are both experienced amateur actors with great comedic chops.”

Joanna Megraw, who plays the dead wife, Elvira, also comes in for some love. “Her musical theatre background (provides) strength in the role”

Jo-Anne Pulfer plays the maid, Edith, just recently out of the armed forces herself, and who has to be reminded everything need not be done “on the double”.

Moreover, “Jenny Senior and Chris Perchaluk play another married couple and bring a refreshing curiosity to the process as this is one of their first experiences in a straight play.

Finally, “Kathy Simpson brings her natural craziness and ability to improvise to the part of Madame Arcati.”