JREF Swift Blog

Calling Noel Coward

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward is a comedic play about a man who goes to a seance and is visited by his dead wife... who then refuses to leave. She causes trouble and tries to get him to leave his second wife. In the real world, the only people that refuse to leave are the so-called psychics themselves, who continue to bilk the public and mislead the curious.

There is a new production of Blithe Spirit, one with a bit of a twist: they're holding auditions for actual psychic to join the cast. According to the Entertainment Weekly article:

Open auditions will take place on Jan. 22 at the famous theater district restaurant Sardi's in New York City. All hopefuls will have -- get this -- just two minutes to either "conjure the spirit of Noel Coward or to display any psychic abilities." Talk about pressure! I just hope Coward's spirit has left the premises on Jan. 22 so patrons can enjoy their steak tartare in peace.

Hey, we've been holding auditions for nearly 40 years, and we pay more! And despite our efforts, we've found no one who's been able to meet the above qualifications. Somehow, I think this Broadway production may succeed in actually finding someone they think fits the bill, but on behalf of the JREF, I'd like to invite them to have us test the winning candidate. After all, $1,000,000 could fund much of the production.

It should be noted, however, that the JREF will take no responsibility if Noël Coward should decide to follow suit and not return to the netherworld. Blithe or not, he who calls up spirits is ultimately responsible for them. And given Coward's atheism, he might stick around just to annoy those who proffer an afterlife that he probably didn't believe in.