Blithe Spirit rehearsed reading will be Mind fund-raiser in Eastbourne
Rehearsed reading of Noël Coward’s much-loved comedy
A rehearsed reading of Noël Coward’s much-loved comedy Blithe Spirit is the first offering from a group of performers who now go under the name The Actors’ Radio Theatre Co.
They made their hugely successful debut with the psychological thriller Gaslight earlier this year – and have now adopted the name as they prepare for their second outing which will be
at the Grove Theatre, Eastbourne on Sunday, May 17 (7–9pm).
Gemma Page, from the company, said: “Audiences can expect an evening of wit, mischief and supernatural chaos as love, marriage and the spirit world collide in one of Coward’s most enduring plays. Featuring the eccentric and unforgettable medium Madame Arcati, Blithe Spirit remains as sharp and entertaining today as when it was first performed.”
The production features a cast of West End actors, including performers known for their work in Midsomer Murders, Inside No 9, Peaky Blinders, Keep It in the Family, Full House, The Bill and Emmerdale, with all profits from the event, after basic expenses, donated to the mental health charity Mind.
Tickets are £10 and available via:
https://www.groveeastbourne.com/events/blithe-spirit-a-rehearsed-reading/
Gemma added: “My partner Michael Kirk is an actor. He is 75 and he was working until four or five years ago. And then three years ago he had a breakdown. He got shingles and then he had a mental health breakdown brought on by the extremity of the pain. For three years nobody or nothing really helped but then towards the middle of last year I was saying to him ‘You need to get back to work’ because that was the one thing that he really loved. But because of the anxiety he could not get back to auditioning properly.”
So instead the idea emerged to do a rehearsed reading with other professional actors – and to do it in support of Mind.
“And so we did Gaslight in January. “We had a great cast and it sold out. We raised £700 for Mind. What I didn't expect was that the audience were so much wanting to have London actors come down and to get to see them really close in a small space. You could have heard a pin drop. People were with us all the way through.”
With huge benefits for all.
“The process of getting Michael back to work on the craft he has loved all his life has been more healing than many of the other therapies that he tried. And so The Actors’ Radio Theatre Company was born – quietly.
“I think I had the idea in my head that doing it this way would allow people to imagine things – unlike the cinema where everything is given to you completely. And also being in such close proximity to the actors, without them moving and without scenery, was also a big part of the effect. It worked so well.
“Having done the psychological thriller Gaslight we thought that this was May and that we should perhaps to something more light-hearted. We thought let's do a comedy, and Blithe Spirit is the most immediately accessible. It's a lovely bright and breezy entertaining show. Having taken the audience on a dark journey with a psychological thriller, we thought it would be a lovely contrast to do Blithe Spirit now.
“I am playing Ruth. She's quite pragmatic. She just really wants to have a nice life with her husband enjoying everything about living in the 1930s in England at a certain level of society… until Madam Arcati comes along and unleashes ghosts that she cannot get rid of!”
The idea is to do a rehearsed reading every couple of months: “The model would be to do classic, mostly British plays of the 20th century and to do it for charity.”
The cast for Blithe Spirit is: Tom Butcher (Doctors, The Bill), Sabina Franklyn (Midsomer Murders, Full House, Keep it in the Family), Michelle Grant (Casualty, Players’ Music Hall) Michael Kirk (The Devil’s Hour, A Very British Murder), Gemma Page (Inside No.9, Peaky Blinders), Jane Shakespeare (Crossfire, Finding Alice), and Corrinne Wicks (Doctors, Emmerdale).