About Blithe Spirit
We are excited to have Adriana Marmo producing this delightful and dark comedy by the infamous Noel Coward. We know many of you have seen this show is various places around Sacramento and beyond as it is a theater fan favorite! Join us in November to keep a little of the fright fest from October going into the month of Thanks. We Thank You for coming out!
ABOUT Blithe Spirit
This is a classic comedic play by Noël Coward about a novelist who, after inviting a medium to his home for research, finds himself haunted by the ghost of his eccentric first wife. The title of the play comes from the first line of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark," "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!".
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Noël Coward
Noël Peirce Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 12, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was the controversial The Vortex (1924), which featured themes of drugs and adultery and made his name as both actor and playwright in the West End and on Broadway.
During the frenzied 1920s and the more sedate 1930s, Coward wrote a string of successful plays, musicals and intimate revues including Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Easy Virtue (1926), This Year of Grace (1928), and Bitter Sweet (1929). His professional partnership with childhood friend Gertrude Lawrence started with Private Lives (1931), and continued with Tonight at 8.30 (1936).
During World War II, he remained a successful playwright, screenwriter and director, as well as entertaining the troops and even acting as an unofficial spy for the Foreign Office. His plays during these years included Blithe Spirit, which ran for 1997 performances, outlasting the War (a West End record until The Mousetrap overtook it), This Happy Breed and Present Laughter (both 1943). His two wartime screenplays, In Which We Serve, which he co-directed with the young David Lean, and Brief Encounter, quickly became classics of British cinema. However, the post-war years were more difficult. Austerity Britain – the London critics determined – was out of tune with the brittle Coward wit. In response, Coward re-invented himself as a cabaret and TV star, particularly in America, and in 1955 he played a sell-out season in Las Vegas featuring many of his most famous songs, including "Mad About the Boy," "I’ll See You Again" and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen."
In the mid-1950s he settled in Jamaica and Switzerland, and enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1960s, becoming the first living playwright to be performed by the National Theatre when he directed Hay Fever there. Late in his career he was lauded for his roles in a number of films, including Our Man In Havana (1959) and his role as the iconic Mr. Bridger alongside Michael Caine in The Italian Job (1968). Writer, actor, director, film producer, painter, songwriter, cabaret artist as well as an author of a novel, verse, essays and autobiographies, he was called by close friends "The Master."
His final West End appearance was Song at Twilight in 1966, which he wrote and starred in. He was knighted in 1970 and died peacefully in 1973 in his beloved Jamaica.
The Ooley Theatre
Welcome to The Ooley Theatre! We are founded by EMH Productions' executive creative director Elise Hodge with the intent of creating a non-profit space for live performing arts as well as workshops and much more!
http://emhpros.weebly.com/tickets-special-offers.html
This Multi-purpose Venue serves the community to provide live entertainment and workshops to benefit the public and its artists in the Sacramento and surrounding areas. We are a fan favorite now 3 years running since 2023!
Please click on the links above to see all shows are currently on at our intimate 35 seat space.
Located at 2007 28th Street, Sacramento, CA 95827
Corner of T and 28th in Midtown Sacramento
Whether you are looking to go see a live show or looking to find a venue to perform in yourself, The Ooley is a favorite spot to shine at!
