BLITHE SPIRIT

 

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward. 

Directed by Lachlan Houen. Set design Andrew Kay and Michael Sparks OAM. Lighting design Leannn Galloway. Sound design and composition Marlêné Claudine Radice. Costume design Suzann Cooper Properties coordinator Gail Cantie. Canberra Rep. May 1-17. 2025 Bookings 62571950 or
62474222

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins 

 

Elaine Noon as Madam Arcati in Blithe Spirit

Noël Coward wrote Blithe Spirit in six days between May 3 and May 9 1941 during the horror of World War 2. In his diary he described his play as “very gay,superficial comedy about a ghost. Really feel I have done a rousing good comedy.” 

It is a sign of the Master’s skill that he was able to write such a deliciously witty and perfectly structured comedy about two wifely ghosts who are materialized to torment their former husband. The play opens with a séance organized by novelist Charles Condamine (Peter Holland) as research for his new novel. He and wife Ruth (Alex Mcpherson) invite their friends, a sceptical Dr. Bradman (John Stead) and his wife Violet (Antonia Kitzel), to witness the séance conducted by mystic psychic Madam Arcati (Elaine Noon). When Madam Arcati conjures dead first wife Elvira (Winsome Ogilvie) mayhem erupts as ghostly ruptions turn Charles’s world upside down. The scene is set for confusions and discombobulations. 

Director Lachlan Houen has paid careful attention to Coward’s text and stage directions and keeps the stage action and business moving after a rather static opening conversation between the egotistical and priggish Charles and his staid wife Ruth. The conservative stuffiness of the middle class manner is instantly disrupted by the frenetic zeal of the Condamines’ maid Edith in a delightfully hilarious and comical performance by Liv Boddington. It is with the entrance of Madam Arcati that Coward’s plot takes spirited flight. This is also largely due to Elaine Noon’s wonderful portrayal of the thoroughly eccentric psychic. Noon plays Arcati like a child let loose in a lolly shop as she clamours for connection with the ghostly Elvira. Boddington and Noon extract every jot of absurdity from their performances. I am slightly confused by the decision to have Edith in sight offstage on an exercise bike or later reading a book with a bandage around her head. Perhaps there is a connection to her surprise revelation in Act Two. 

Coward’s plot becomes even more intriguing when it becomes apparent that only Charles and the audience can see the apparition. Ogilvie’s Elvira is less waftish and coquettish than is often the case with performances of the first wife conjured from the dead to fulfill her devilish plan. Although this may lessen the contrasting characters of Ruth and Elvira it does suggest a similarity in life and a plausibility when both wives team up against the selfish Charles in a final ghostly act of aggression. 

On opening night of Rep’s production of Blithe Spirit Coward’s “talent to amuse” provided a most entertaining night at the theatre. Coward takes great delight in exposing the silly nature of class and character and it is the lightheartedness and silliness of the play and the performances that was lacking at the opening. As the cast relax into their roles and begin to play with the blithe spirit of their performances, Rep’s production is bound to be the ‘rousing good comedy’ that Coward wrote.