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mariocki · 5 years ago

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ITV Play Of The Week: A Choice Of Coward: Blithe Spirit (Granada, 1964)

"When did you first discover you had these extraordinary powers?"

"When I was quite tiny; my mother was a medium before me, you know, so I was able to start on the ground floor. I had my first trance when I was four years old, and my first ectoplasmic manifestation when I was five."

"Your mother must have been delighted."

#itv play of the week #a choice of coward #Blithe spirit #noël coward #modern drama #1964 #single play #granada #joan kemp welch #Griffith jones #Hattie jacques #Helen cherry #Joanna dunham #Ursula hirst #Edward jewesbury #Coral fairweather #Another uneven beast that works in some respects but in others falls a little flat #Coward's introduction to the play tho is brilliantly caustic and dry and i may end up quoting it in its own post #Largely considered to be one of coward's greatest plays. The issues i have aren't with this production tho but with the text itself #It's just that the three leads are so... Unlikeable. Maybe they aren't all the way through but the ending is just a little sour and #Unpleasant for me. At least in this kind of domestic farce it is. Idk. There is method in it tho. Coward himself made the very good #Point that if any of the three leads were more sympathetic then the play would become a very sad one and i can't fault that logic. And ther #Is still a lot to enjoy. I wouldn't go so far as graham greene (who thought it all very bad taste) or the critic james agate (who declared #It simply 'common'). In fact I'm rather impressed with coward for writing it at all. Context is important here and when you consider this #Was written and staged during the worst years of ww2 for a london under heavy bombing then the playwright's blasé approach to #Mortality is almost brave. Defiant even. The cast does well but all three leads are overshadowed by a joyously over the top hattie jacques #Who has enormous fun and boundless energy as madame arcati. Kemp welch serves her well by allowing the cameras to roam and whirl as #Hattie prances around the set variously jogging on the spot or singing or wailing. Coward himself approved and suggested she was #The first actor since Margaret Rutherford (who originated the role) to really embody the part. She shamelessly steals focus and wolfs down #The scenery but it's very entertaining and welcome light relief in what can come close to being a slightly bitter and misanthropic play

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