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Blithe Spirt

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Description:

Blithe Spirit is set at the house of writer, Charles Condomine, and his wife, Ruth. One evening, Charles invites local eccentric medium, Madame Arcati, to hold a seance at his house. He asks along his friends, Dr. and Mrs. Bradman, intending to gather character inspiration from Madame Arcati for his latest book. Despite initially thinking the seance has been a failure, it soon becomes clear that Madame Arcati has unwittingly brought back Charles' first wife, Elvira, to haunt him. Once in his house, Elvira is unable to leave and, as she cannot be seen or heard by Ruth, she causes all kinds of mischievous trouble between the married couple. When Elvira unwittingly causes Ruth's death in her attempts to bring Charles over to be with her, Charles becomes haunted by both of his now-deceased wives. Frustrated by their odd situation, the threesome call on Madame Arcati once more to send Elvira and Ruth back to the other side. Intensely funny and character-driven, Blithe Spirit combines farce, emotion, and wit to great effect.

LIST OF CHARACTERS
Charles Condomine (age range 20's - 50's) a novelist. Charles is bright, sophisticated, articulate, and debonair but somewhat at the mercy of his wives, past and present. His interest in spiritualism as a subject for a novel leads Charles to ask Madame Arcati to dinner and a seance. He is skeptical but becomes a believer when the ghost of his first wife appears - and stays.

Ruth Condomine (age range 20's - 50's) Charles's second wife. Like her husband, Ruth is witty and sophisticated, and she is quite the society matron. Ruth is a bit stuffy and a little predictable. She is convinced that Charles has lost his mind when Elvira appears. Ruth acts as a concerned wife, trying to restore Charles to normalcy.

Elvira (age range 20's - 50's) the ghost of Charles's first wife. Only Charles can see or hear her. In life, Elvira was spirited, outgoing, wild, and carefree. In death, she is no different; she socializes with Genghis Khan. She does love Charles, if somewhat casually, and is jealous of Ruth.

Arcati-Madame (age range 30's - 70's) the local spiritualist and medium. Elderly but spry, Madame Arcati comes into the play talking to an eight-year-old contact on the other side. She truly is in contact with the other world and inadvertently is the "medium" through which Elvira is called back to this one. She is eccentric, effusive and boisterous.

Dr. George Bradman (age range 20's - 70's) - Dr. George Bradman is a good friend of the Condomines who is invited to dinner and the seance. He is entirely skeptical of anything to do with the occult but tries his utmost to go along with the proceedings for the sake of Charles' research.

Violet Bradman (age range 20's - 70's) - is Dr. Bradman's wife. Simple and naïve, she is quite excited about being in the presence of the medium, whom she finds fascinating.

Edith (age range late teens - 40's) - Edith is the Condomine's new maid. She is nervous and tears around at breakneck speed trying to do things right and make a good impression.

Auditions will be held at Westmont Community Center - 75 N Richmond, Westmont

Time Commitment:

Show Dates: March 9-11, 16-18, 2018

Material To Prepare:

Audition will consist of reading scenes from the script. Comedic monologues are optional, yet always welcome.

Contact Info:

Walk-ins welcome - callbacks if necessary.

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