The QUADS Spring Play is Blithe Spirit, a supernatural comedy by Noel Coward. Performances: 7th to 10th May 2008.

Blithe Spirit (1941) is a comic play written by Noel Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem To a Skylark. The action of the play centres on socialite Charles Condomine being haunted by the ghost of his first wife Elvira following a séance, and Elvira's continued (and increasingly desperate) efforts to disrupt Charles' current marriage. The play is notable for the comic character of Madame Arcati, the eccentric medium.

As with most of Coward’s work, Blithe Spirit is renowned for its dialogue. The following comment comes from Charles Condomine when arguing with his wife during a breakfast scene: “If you're trying to compile an inventory of my sex life, I feel it only fair to warn you that you've omitted several episodes. I shall consult my diary and give you a complete list after lunch.”

The play set all manner of British box-office records. Its mark of 1,997 consecutive performances in the West End was only eventually beaten by Boeing Boeing in the 1970s.

In his autobiography Coward claimed he wrote the play in five days during a holiday in Portmeirion, Wales. He wrote it straight through from beginning to end and only two lines of dialogue were removed before its first production in London.

                  "Blithe Spirit", the film

Blithe Spirit was also made into a successful film in 1945, adapted by Coward himself and directed by David Lean. The film stars Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond and Margaret Rutherford with Joyce Carey and Noel Coward as narrator. Unusually for the time, the film is in full colour.

Arcati is contacted to rid his household of both spirits. Although she appears successful at first, it becomes obvious that one or more spirits have remained invisible in the house, and the plot to bring Charles Condomine into the spirit realm remains...