Adapted version of Coward play to be staged in Beijing

Blithe Spirit, a comic play by English playwright and director Noel Coward, has been adapted by Chinese director Zou Shuang into a Chinese drama with the same title. It will be staged at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing from Dec 20 to 24.

The play tells the story of novelist Charles and his second wife, Ruth, who are haunted by the spirit of his first wife, Elvira. Madame Arcati, an eccentric medium, tries to help them by contacting the ghost.

Written in 1941, Blithe Spirit remained the longest-running comedy in British Theatre for three decades.

In 1945, the play was adapted into a fantasy-comedy film directed by David Lean.

Zou, who was born in Wuhan, Hubei province, graduated from the London Film School in 2010, and has directed a number of short films, including the award-winning 20-minute film, Still. She localized the story of Blithe Spirit by introducing a couple living in Beijing.

Featuring young Chinese drama actors, including Jiang Jiaqi from the National Theater of China, the play premiered in August with 10 performances.