Angela Lansbury returns to the London stage to reprise her Tony Award-winning performance as Madame Arcati in Noël Coward’s comic play.

Directed by Michael Blakemore, who worked with Lansbury on the Broadway production, Blithe Spirit tells the story of Charles and Ruth, a writer and his wife who invite their friends for dinner so that they can experience a séance with a local clairvoyant as research for Charles’ next novel. Certain that the spiritualist is a phoney, the diners are shocked when the ghost of Charles’ first wife Elvira is summoned and proceeds to stay in their home over the days that follow, causing a rift between the feuding females.

Returning to the London stage for the first time in almost 40 years, Lansbury’s career has spanned more than half a century. While the legendary stage and screen actress has won numerous awards for her stage performances, she is arguably best known for portraying fictional writer Jessica Fletcher in the American long-running murder series Murder, She Wrote.

Lansbury is joined in the cast by double Olivier Award winner Janie Dee, last seen on the London stage in NSFW at the Royal Court, and Charles Edwards, whose recent stage credits include Strange Interlude and This House at the National Theatre.

Blithe Spirit was last seen in the West End in 2011 with Alison Steadman and Robert Bathurst in the cast.