It was all about dry English wit this weekend, as two Noel Coward plays opened in the Twin Cities. Both productions proved to be excellent ­ and offered more insight than just cutting remarks.

"Blithe Spirit" is always one of those plays that I¹ve enjoyed at an intellectual level, but rarely makes the transition to a fully engaging play on stage. Give credit to Joel Sass and an ace cast at the Jungle for turning this around for me. The company's production of Noel Coward's ghostly tale finds the rather black heart of the play amid all of the martinis.

Writer Charles is doing research for his next book, so he and his second wife, Ruth, invite the village's medium, Madame Arcati, and another couple over for a séance. It goes wrong ­ or horribly right, I guess, ­ as they call out the spirit of Elvira, Charles' first wife.

The production turns on two performances ­ — Wendy Lehr as batty Madame Arcati, the medium whose séance sets the whole affair into motion; and Kate Eifrig as Elvira, the ghost of Charles' first wife. Lehr can bring humor to the mundane act of eating a sandwich or resting on the couch, while Eifrig glides across the stage, dominating each scene ­ even if the only one who can "see" her is Charles.

The rest of the cast is strong as well, but spend much of their time being the straight men and women to the performances above. The play is pretty dark, not just because several characters end up dead. These are almost the stereotypical Coward characters, full of alcohol-fueled bitter wit directed in every direction. The cast does a fine job of keeping, at the very least, in touch with their humanity throughout the show.

"Blithe Spirit" runs through March 28 at the Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis. Tickets are 420 to $35. For information and tickets, call 612-822-7063 or visit online.

The Guthrie Theater is the last stop on the current tour of "Brief Encounter," Kneehigh Theatre's innovative and moving adaptation of the film written by Coward.

Laura (Hannah Yelland) and Alec (Milo Twomey) meet one day at the train station, when she gets a bit of grit in her eye and he, a doctor, helps her get it out. From there, a brief and rather low-key affair blossoms. The two are desperately in love, but both have spouses, children and their lives holding them back. The love is doomed from the start, but they hold on to it desperately to the very end.

Emma Rice, who adapted and directed the show for England's Kneehigh Theatre, works with a deft touch throughout. The staging is innovative, mixing in music (original Coward songs and poems of his set to new tunes), dance and filmed sequences to tell the story. These elements, however, never feel as though they've been included just because they could. Instead, they all merge together to tell the story.

The two leads are terrific, always keeping their emotions buried deep inside, but letting us see enough to feel the deep pain they both have. The rest of the ensemble, playing the employees and hangers-on at the train station and other characters passing through the story, are equally strong.

"Brief Encounter" runs through April 3 at the Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Minneapolis. Tickets are $29-$65. For information and tickets, call 612-377-2224 or visit online.