One of the better known playwrights whose name starts with “C” is Sir Noël Coward who was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, born in 1899 and died in 1973. He had quite a flamboyant personality, on stage and off, and Time magazine once referred to his sense of personal style as “a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise”
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| Image Courtesy of Wikipedia |
His list of credits is impressive, and two of his most popular plays are “Blithe Spirit” and “The Rat Trap”. He adapted “Blithe Spirit” for film and also wrote other screenplays, as well as a number of original songs. I have seen several production of “Blithe Spirit” and would love to play the role of Elvira, the ghost who haunts her husband, Charles, in an attempt to drive his second wife, Ruth, away.
Agatha Christie is another successful English playwright, although most people associate her with her novels. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 4 billion copies. And Then There Were None is Christie’s best-selling novel with 100 million sales to date, making it the world’s best-selling mystery ever.
What some people don’t know is that Christie’s stage play “The Mousetrap” holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on November 25, 1952 and as of 2012 was still running after more than 25,000 performances.
We staged “The Mousetrap” here in our local community theatre several years ago. I did not have a role in the show, however. This was before I got brave enough to step on stage, but I did work behind the scenes. Almost any job in theatre can be fun and can feed the creative spirit.
What do you do to feed your creative spirit?
i not heard of his work… i am interested… i enjoy this kind of stuff… i may have mentioned it before. it’s our secret.
Jeremy [Retro]
AtoZ Challenge Co-Host
Oh No, Let’s Go… Crazy
Umm, Jeremy, if you posted it here, it’s not really a secret any more. LOL
With his rat trap and her mouse trap they could have invented a better trap together. Cute and informative post. I remember our high school doing Blithe Spirit.
Enjoyed reading today’s post for the A to Z Challenge! Like you, I enjoy the behind-the-scenes as well. Having lines in a play is too much stress for me. 🙂 I feed my creative spirit by doing Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and the activities in that book.
I like The Artist’s Way, too. When I read that book it gave me permission to go to the movies once a week to feed my creative spirit. (smile)
LOL, Desert Rocks. You would think they could invent a better trap together.
As a mystery buff, I should be singing the praises of Dame Agatha but I’ve got to admit Blithe Spirit is a favorite of mine.
LD, I think the character of Elvira is what intrigues us in the story. Any time an author or playwright alters reality in such a clever way, we are pulled into the magic.