Noel Cowards Blythe Spirit

Although the play is tongue in cheek I am sure most Spiritualists enjoy it.

This version with Angela Lansbury sounds great fun

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/127350.html

I loved the version with Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati.

Angela Lansbury's grandfather was George Lansbury, British politician, socialist, Christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1912 and from 1922 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935.

Z

Yes I liked the Margaret Rutherford version too.

I really like Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit.

It is very entertaining for audiences, and actors can have great fun getting into their characters from the laughter of the audience.

I think its a clever satire, yet in a non preachy way gets across a few interesting questions.

Lup

Hi Lup,

Agreed my wife also loves it, would be a great play for a Spiritualist Group to put on.
Jim

I would love to audition for the role of Elvira if a decent spiritual group puts on a production in Dublin!

I think its a great idea for a spiritual group to put on a fun, entertaining play.

To be honest, I'd rather do a play with a bunch of people, than to start off meditating with complete strangers in a spiritual development circle.

But a great production depends on the director, administrator, technical and sound crew and venue and of course the cast. Then there's marketing and publicity, sorting out the rights and of course the finance!! Loads more but that's just off the top of my head.

The commitment and dedication required to put on a production is intense, so there is no room for anything else in your life. Most people get a bit crazy especially in the hectic week before opening night.

People do love a good play, and personally speaking I would rather be in a great production of Blithe Spirit, than go to see a public demonstration by a medium.

"Blithe Spirit" is entertainment.

Public demonstration of mediumship is NOT entertainment.

[quote="zerdini"]"Blithe Spirit" is entertainment.

Public demonstration of mediumship is NOT entertainment.[/quote


I agree with you. Unfortunately the public perception is that mediumship is fraudulent, due to certain practioners who are delighted with the energy they get from a large audience, and turn it into entertainment.

Mediums like Estelle Roberts, Helen Hughes, Gordon Higginson, Albert Best etc never regarded evidence of survival as entertainment nor was it ever perceived as such.

[quote="Lupus Hibernicus"]

zerdini wrote:"Blithe Spirit" is entertainment.

Public demonstration of mediumship is NOT entertainment.[/quote


I agree with you. Unfortunately the public perception is that mediumship is fraudulent, due to certain practioners who are delighted with the energy they get from a large audience, and turn it into entertainment.

I would say there is a perception amongst some people that mediumship is fraudulent. I have to say that ignorance of the research into survival that has been carried out over the last 150 years or so is almost universal though and probably accounts for that perception. I don't really see how Spiritualists performing Blithe Spirit will appear as anything but a reinforcement of the commonly held view. Having said that Madame Arcati was at least able to communicate some evidence as I recall - this has not been my experience of mediums demonstrating in churches in my area.

Lol Obi, well within the centres we have to have fun some times and provided the difference is made clear I feel it would be OK. Indeed in its earliest days the Mission in Adelaidewas as much about bringing happiness into lives torn up by the great war and then the depression as it was about the work of spirit. It functioned as a sporting, social and spiritual centre.

However sadly we have several problems in demonstrations thess days one which you have made clear is medium quality. How many do we see really following the simple rules of CERT who the Communicator is, the Evidence of that person, the Reason thay came and then the Ties it up to conclude the message. How many even have a Spirit with them when they claim They are telling me.

Great (even just good staight forward) mediumship is compelling and thereby entertaining, it should not set out to be an entertainment. Sadly one of the reasons I have been given, from a person training to be an AFC tutor, for teaching the fishing net I have a Jack approach is because we want to keep people involved and entertained.

We also have another problem which arises from those attending events. Many these days have never seen real proof of survival mediumsip and are there looking for the type of messages they get from visiting a psychic.

Oh well we persist in trying

I think you are right Jim. When people hear I am interested in the subject they often recount the most preposterous stories and cite them as evidence. Often they include predictions (in one case there was a 2 years gap between the vague prediction and the event that was supposedly foretold) that would shame Sylvia Browne. It seems to me symptomatic of poor thinking skills. I think it is very common and would scare the shinola out of me if I had to face a jury.

Yes it is sad to see what people accept. In honesty one of our jobs in the movement is not just to train mediums but to educate people of the difference between Psychic and Medium plus what they may expect from either.

In honesty since the first time I visited a Spiritualist Church and received a perfect proof of survival message and then the second time a week later where Gordon Higginson gave Lis one neither of us has had really convincing proof. I have seen others reeceive compelling evidence but also seen too much which is obviously pure psychic and where the so called "medium" has no idea of the process that is occuring.

Mark you if you are as purist as we are you do not tend to win friends and influence the anything goes people or other centres (indeed you may find yourself unpleasantly targetted in anonymous publications). However those places/people also ensure that the thinkers who look for proof or realty don't stay in the movement either. Your own case is a very good one, exactly the type of person who would have been drawn in yet the failure of the churches/mediums you have seen leaves you with sufficient questions to keep you at a distance.

Hopefully that is where a forum like this presenting the evidence of reality and fraud truthfully will help.

When I first encountered Spiritualism about fifty years ago, as part of mediumship development, I was asked to chair a meeting for Mona van der Watt.

I thanked the medium at the end for "an entertaining demonstration". She took me aside later and said while a demonstation may be interesting, evidential etc it was never "entertaining". I have chaired for many mediums since and have never used that word again.

Most of the demonstrations I have seen would not qualify as entertainment and were evidential only of the medium's and audience's loss of contact with reality .

obiwan wrote:Most of the demonstrations I have seen would not qualify as entertainment and were evidential only of the medium's and audience's loss of contact with reality .

I couldn't agree more. I am glad I am not starting my investigation today.

Admin wrote:
Mark you if you are as purist as we are you do not tend to win friends and influence the anything goes people or other centres (indeed you may find yourself unpleasantly targetted in anonymous publications).

I suspect you are right Jim. Whilst I would not wish to undermine the comfort individuals gain from evidence which meets their own personal criteria, I would feel no similar reluctance to comment on the weaknesses of it if it was adduced as evidence of survival to a wider audience.

To my perhaps simplistic agnostic eye, the desire to hang on to religious trappings is incongruous with the information (some) Spiritualists present as evidence to support their beliefs. It suggests to me that they have missed the point really.

zerdini wrote:

obiwan wrote:Most of the demonstrations I have seen would not qualify as entertainment and were evidential only of the medium's and audience's loss of contact with reality .

I couldn't agree more. I am glad I am not starting my investigation today.

On the plus side tho Z it would be a much shorter journey

Quite!

zerdini wrote:When I first encountered Spiritualism about fifty years ago, as part of mediumship development, I was asked to chair a meeting for Mona van der Watt.

I thanked the medium at the end for "an entertaining demonstration". She took me aside later and said while a demonstation may be interesting, evidential etc it was never "entertaining". I have chaired for many mediums since and have never used that word again.

Mona van der Watt, phenomenal medium. I remember hearing some time ago about her guide, (correct me if I am wrong) an american indian with a hunchback, he would overshadow Mona when she was demonstrating. Was anything put in-print about her life Z

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:When I first encountered Spiritualism about fifty years ago, as part of mediumship development, I was asked to chair a meeting for Mona van der Watt.

I thanked the medium at the end for "an entertaining demonstration". She took me aside later and said while a demonstation may be interesting, evidential etc it was never "entertaining". I have chaired for many mediums since and have never used that word again.

Mona van der Watt, phenomenal medium. I remember hearing some time ago about her guide, (correct me if I am wrong) an american indian with a hunchback, he would overshadow Mona when she was demonstrating. Was anything put in-print about her life Z

I knew Mona extremely well, Azur, and her main guide was an African. She also had a an Austrian doctor who had been a hunchback on earth.

I have written a little about her from time to time but there has been no definitive book on her life as yet.

zerdini wrote:

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:When I first encountered Spiritualism about fifty years ago, as part of mediumship development, I was asked to chair a meeting for Mona van der Watt.

I thanked the medium at the end for "an entertaining demonstration". She took me aside later and said while a demonstation may be interesting, evidential etc it was never "entertaining". I have chaired for many mediums since and have never used that word again.

Mona van der Watt, phenomenal medium. I remember hearing some time ago about her guide, (correct me if I am wrong) an american indian with a hunchback, he would overshadow Mona when she was demonstrating. Was anything put in-print about her life Z

I knew Mona extremely well, Azur, and her main guide was an African. She also had a an Austrian doctor who had been a hunchback on earth.

I have written a little about her from time to time but there has been no definitive book on her life as yet.

It's such a shame there isn't anything on her she was great. Are your articles available online z

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:When I first encountered Spiritualism about fifty years ago, as part of mediumship development, I was asked to chair a meeting for Mona van der Watt.

I thanked the medium at the end for "an entertaining demonstration". She took me aside later and said while a demonstation may be interesting, evidential etc it was never "entertaining". I have chaired for many mediums since and have never used that word again.

Mona van der Watt, phenomenal medium. I remember hearing some time ago about her guide, (correct me if I am wrong) an american indian with a hunchback, he would overshadow Mona when she was demonstrating. Was anything put in-print about her life Z

I knew Mona extremely well, Azur, and her main guide was an African. She also had a an Austrian doctor who had been a hunchback on earth.

I have written a little about her from time to time but there has been no definitive book on her life as yet.

It's such a shame there isn't anything on her she was great. Are your articles available online z

There have been some from time to time. Here is one I wrote for Psychic News:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/annetts/ark/mediums/mona_van_der_watt.htm

zerdini wrote:

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:When I first encountered Spiritualism about fifty years ago, as part of mediumship development, I was asked to chair a meeting for Mona van der Watt.

I thanked the medium at the end for "an entertaining demonstration". She took me aside later and said while a demonstation may be interesting, evidential etc it was never "entertaining". I have chaired for many mediums since and have never used that word again.

Mona van der Watt, phenomenal medium. I remember hearing some time ago about her guide, (correct me if I am wrong) an american indian with a hunchback, he would overshadow Mona when she was demonstrating. Was anything put in-print about her life Z

I knew Mona extremely well, Azur, and her main guide was an African. She also had a an Austrian doctor who had been a hunchback on earth.

I have written a little about her from time to time but there has been no definitive book on her life as yet.

It's such a shame there isn't anything on her she was great. Are your articles available online z

There have been some from time to time. Here is one I wrote for Psychic News:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/annetts/ark/mediums/mona_van_der_watt.htm

I've read this article a while back, great read Is the church still in South Africa that she demonstrated in

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:

Azur wrote:

zerdini wrote:When I first encountered Spiritualism about fifty years ago, as part of mediumship development, I was asked to chair a meeting for Mona van der Watt.

I thanked the medium at the end for "an entertaining demonstration". She took me aside later and said while a demonstation may be interesting, evidential etc it was never "entertaining". I have chaired for many mediums since and have never used that word again.

Mona van der Watt, phenomenal medium. I remember hearing some time ago about her guide, (correct me if I am wrong) an american indian with a hunchback, he would overshadow Mona when she was demonstrating. Was anything put in-print about her life Z

I knew Mona extremely well, Azur, and her main guide was an African. She also had a an Austrian doctor who had been a hunchback on earth.

I have written a little about her from time to time but there has been no definitive book on her life as yet.

It's such a shame there isn't anything on her she was great. Are your articles available online z

There have been some from time to time. Here is one I wrote for Psychic News:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/annetts/ark/mediums/mona_van_der_watt.htm

I've read this article a while back, great read Is the church still in South Africa that she demonstrated in

Sadly it's no longer there, Azur. It was situated on the slopes of Table Mountain.

Roy Stemman has also written about her in his book, "Spirit Communication".