Socialite novelist Charles Condomine, is living in re-married bliss until a visit from “happy medium”, one Madame Arcati, brings back the ghost of his dead wife during a séance… With both wives watching on, Charles is caught in the middle of a sprightly storm of conflicting personalities.
Expect mayhem and mishaps in Coward’s timeless comic farce which captures the chaos of both life and the afterlife. After all, what mischief would you create when you “pass over”?
COMPANY
Company
EMMA HODGKINSON
Madame Arcati / Co-Director
Emma graduated from Rose Bruford College with an MA in Actor Performer Training in 2019. She most recently played Oberon (among other characters) in Heartbreak Productions’ national tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and has also performed in Mrs Noah (Untamed Productions), Wonder With Grimm (Heartbreak Productions) and The Unreturn of Lydia Obsorne (White Crane Productions). Emma is currently directing her own adaptation of Jane Eyre for Heartbreak Productions which will be touring across the UK this summer. She is also one of the founders of Untamed Community.
SARAH DESMOND
Co-Director
Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Theatre includes Cathy/ Bev in Clybourne Park (Wyndham’s Theatre/Royal Court Productions); Lady Chiltern in An Ideal Husband’ & Elvira in Blithe Spirit (English Theatre of Frankfurt); Rachel in Perfect Wedding (English Theatre of Vienna); The FairyQueen in a new version of Peter Pan (Awfully Big Adventures Hong Kong/Taiwan) where she got to fly on stage!; Volpone (Manchester Royal Exchange); Gwendolyne in The Importance of Being Earnest (Lowry Theatre Salford & UK Tour Kaos Theatre Company); Mrs Darling in Panto- Peter Pan – (Camberley & Chelmsford Theatres); Maid Marion in Babes In The Wood (Bristol Old Vic & Harrogate Rep respectively); The Boyfriend, Dangerous Corner, Free as Air, Lady Windermere’s Fan, in weekly rep at (Sheringham Little Theatre); Side By Side By Sondheim (Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company). Sarah has also performed her one-woman, musical comedy Playing With Myself at the Edinburgh Festival in 2006. She also directed Sartre’s ‘In Camera’ at the Fringe. She currently teaches speech and drama at Dean Close School Cheltenham and loves working there.
TV & Film: Wipe Out (CBBC); In the Spotlight (BBC4); The Parole Officer (DNA films); The Fallen Word (Celestial Pictures). Sarah has also made her own short film Swimming Against The Tide.
GABRIELLA SILLS
Producer
Gabbie is Assistant General Manager / Producer at Seventh Productions under The Partnership Group, where she plays a pivotal role in developing fresh productions and leveraging the group’s acclaimed talent and IP. She recently moved from Fiery Angel, an award winning international production company based in London’s West End. Beyond this, she is Producer and Director of Gabriella Sills Productions, focusing on new writing in the Off West End, and Tethered Wits, an open-air touring troupe. Her shows have won Best Production at the Off West End Awards and Scottish Theatre Awards, been nominated for The Stage Debut Awards and Off West End Awards, and received critical praise.
Selected credits include:
As Producer - Breeding (King’s Head Theatre, produced with Seabright Live in association with Mark Gatiss); Agatha (Theatre503); 1902 (Union Theatre, UK Tour); Blackout (Theatre503, Old Joint Stock); Bits ‘N’ Pieces (Leith Arches); The Great Gatsby (UK Tour); Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (UK Tour); The Railway Children (UK Tour); Doctor Dolittle (UK Tour).
As Associate/Trainee Producer – The 39 Steps (Trafalgar Theatre, UK Tour); Starry (London Workshop, The Other Palace); And Then There Were None (UK & China Tour); Murder on the Orient Express (UK Tour); Rob Brydon: An Evening of Songs & Laughter (Lyceum Theatre, UK Tour); Amy Dowden & Carlos Gu: Reborn (Adelphi Theatre, UK Tour); Everybody Dance with Claire Richards (London Palladium, UK Tour).
With a commitment to innovative storytelling and experience across diverse production formats, Gabbie combines creative vision with commercial savvy. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Stage One Bursary.
APRIL PERROT
Ruth
April is an actress and a singer, who trained in Musical Theatre at the Guildford School of Acting. She has just finished her first year studying Education, Policy and International Development at Jesus College, Cambridge and is so excited to join Tethered Wits for this production of Blithe Spirit. Whilst at university, April has juggled her academic commitments with her love of performing and has appeared in Top Girls (ADC Theatre) , Dogfight (Robinson Theatre) and GALA 2022 (ADC theatre). She was very grateful to receive the Elizabeth Webster cup for 'Outstanding contribution to the Arts in Cheltenham' following years of success at the Cheltenham Festival of Performing Arts alongside organising and performing in a charity concert for the local Sue Ryder hospice, raising £1,500.
AMY PORTER
Elvira / Co-Director
Amy has a keen interest in both theatre and music and has performed in venues such as: The Royal Albert Hall, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Gala Theatre, the Bacon Theatre, and The Playhouse Theatre, Cheltenham. She was honoured to sing with the award-winning and internationally renowned chamber choir Tenebrae in Perth, Scotland, under the direction of Nigel Short. Subsequently, she was delighted to join Tenebrae again, this time on tour to Germany, where she performed in three concerts in Bremen Cathedral. Stage credits include: Kate Keller (All My Sons), Ophelia (Hamlet), Sonia (Uncle Vanya), Elvira (Blithe Spirit), Helen (The Last Days of Troy), Cecily (The Importance of Being Earnest), Bianca (Taming of the Shrew), Olivia (Twelfth Night), Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Alison (Look Back in Anger), Kathy (Singin’ in the Rain), Tracy Lord (High Society) and Cathy (The Last Five Years). Amy graduated from Durham University with a First Class Degree in Music, where she held a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship for the Arts. Durham Alumni, in 2019.
DOMINIC CARRINGTON
Charles
Dominic has been performing from a very young age. He has sung with such renowned choirs as the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and King’s Voices in venues which include The Royal Albert Hall, King’s College Chapel, Alexandra Palace, and the Duomo di Pavia. He has professionally portrayed Michael in Danny Braverman’s Labi Siffre musical Something Inside So Strong (Arcola Theatre, 2016), and Aidan in Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society’s original musical On Your Bike which won Edinburgh Musical Theatre Review’s “Best Musical at the Fringe” 2021 award and subsequently transferred to the Cambridge Town and Gown Pub Theatre. His 25 credits with Cambridge University theatre include Alexander in Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (Fitzpatrick Hall, 2019), Oliver in As You Like It (Fitzwilliam Museum Gardens, 2021) and Noah in Rust: The Musical (“Best Musical at the Fringe Award” Edinburgh 2019). He has just graduated in Music from King’s College Cambridge, specialising in free and film composition. He has also directed a couple of short films; been a runner on the set of The Crown, Trust and Blinded by the Light; and worked as a supporting artist in Hetty Feather and Rocketman.
SYDNEY DAVIES
Mrs Bradman / Edith
Sydney’s acting career started at a young age including performances with John Barrowman and Brian Conley at the Cardiff New theatre. Following a drama scholarship to Dean Close School, Sydney played a variety of roles including Jane (Jane Eyre, Bacon Theatre) and Cecily (The Importance of Being Ernest). Sydney is looking forward to joining drama societies and performing in plays when commencing studies at Durham University later this year.
ETHAN BAREHAM
Mr Bradman
Ethan is an actor who has been performing from a very young age. He is based in Cheltenham but is currently studying at Oxford University where he has performed in a number of productions. Previous credits include: Young Eric (Will Harvey’s War, Everyman Theatre), Alfieri (A View from the Bridge, Bacon Theatre), Jack Worthing (The Importance of Being Earnest, Bacon Theatre) and two productions of Blackadder which Ethan adapted, directed and performed in. He is so pleased to be part of such a talented cast.
VENUES
This amateur production of “Blithe Spirit” is presented by arrangement with Concord
Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk