Design for SpiritsThis two-act comedy is a gay re-imagining of Noel Coward’s play, Blithe Spirit.
What for Coward in Blithe Spirit was simply a comic device, the physical return to life of a dead spouse, is transformed into a sincere metaphysical proposition in Design for Spirits. Design for Spirits is about the relationship of Victor and Walter, a married couple. Victor is a novelist who believes in non-physical reality. Walter is a dyed-in-the-wool skeptic. When Victor accidentally wins a séance with drag queen medium Madam Boyant at an AIDS benefit auction, he convinces Walter to participate in the séance. Unwittingly, Madam Boyant calls Victor’s dead previous lover, Jimmy, back to life. As the play progresses, Victor's attempts to awaken Walter to the reality beyond ordinary physical reality fall short. But when Jimmy remembers a secret hidden in an old clock on the mantel, Walter at last takes a leap into the unknown. |
Margaret Rutherford (Madame Arcati), Kay Hammond (Elvira) and Fay Compton (Ruth), in a 1941 production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit
|