BLITHE SPIRIT

 

Brief Lives by Noël Coward

Directed by Paige Rattray. Designed by David Fleischer. Lighting design by Damien Cooper. Composer and sound designer Clemence Williams. Magic and illusions consultant Adam Mada. Assistant director Tait de Lorenzo Fight and movement director Nigel Poulton. Voice and text coach Leith McPherson. Drama Theatre. Sydney Opera House. Sydney Theatre Company. March 25-May 14 2022.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Nancy Denis as Mrs. Bradman. Bessie Holland as Ruth Condamine.
Matt Day as Charles Condamine. Tracy Mann as Dr. Bradman

I wonder what Noël Coward would think of Paige Rattray’s extremely madcap and hilarious production of his comedy Blithe Spirit for the Sydney Theatre Company. Would he approve of the gender switching where Charles Condamine’s dear departed ex-wife Elvira is played by Shane Jenek aka Drag Queen Courtney Act and Dr Bradman, complete with red hair and beard and dressed in a kilt is played by award winning actress Tracy Mann? What would he think about casting against type where Rattray has cast an extremely large actress as Condamine’s current wife Ruth ( played with forceful authority by Bessie Holland ), and a person of short stature as the deadpan maid Edith ( a  wonderfully deadpan performance by Megan Wilding). This is physical comedy at its funniest. Only author Charles Condamine (Matt Day) and Mrs. Bradman (Nancy Denis) appear to be less cast against type, although their idiosyncrasies are obvious and a black wife of a nimble Scottish doctor makes for a quirky comparison. Even Madame Arcati, the obsessed medium, defies the Margaret Rutherford image of the quaint and eccentric elderly woman. Brigid Zengeni’s Arcati is a wonderfully realized and thoroughly believable portrayal of the intensely possessed medium.  In short, this is not the conventional Blithe Spirit. So would Coward have approved of this over the top mayhem and gender switching? Perhaps the answer lies in the creation of the play during the  Second World War when Coward wrote Blithe Spirit in a mere six days as an escapist wartime entertainment. The Master said that he had “ the talent to amuse.”  Blithe Spirit proved the perfect antidote to the gloom and doom of the war years in bomb blitzed Britain. Perhaps director Rattray saw its revival as the perfect antidote to the challenging and despondent time of Covid.

Courtney Act as Elvira

In any case, I believe that Noël Coward would have been thrilled by the fresh, funny and frantic approach to a play that mocks Spiritualism and the occult and makes fun of the pretentious and the vain. The plot is simple enough. Charles Condamine invites Madame Arcati to conduct a séance as research for a new novel.  He invites his doctor and the doctor’s wife to attend the séance as witnesses to the strange event. But Charles gets much more than he bargained for when Madame Arcati conjures up his dead wife, Elvira The rest is pure mayhem, a minefield of argument and confrontation as Elvira concocts her ghostly mischief. Charles descends into confusion and Madame Arcati, gleefully rapt in the phenomenon attempts to set matters right. 

Brigid Zengeni as Madame Arcati. Megan Wilding as Edith

  Coward revels in his ingenious construction of misunderstanding and mishaps and Rattray and her cast play the absurdity of the situation to the hilt while always maintaining credibility. A willing suspension of disbelief is all that is required as the table sways and levitates, lights flicker and books come flying out of bookcases. In a slinky performance of feminine guile and wile, Courtney Act’s Elvira is utterly captivating and seductive. It is not entirely implausible that the sceptical Dr Bradman should break into a highland fling in a moment of eccentric excitement. Too often the role is played straight but Mann’s characterization of Dr. Bradman as a darting Scottish  leprechaun is a comical gem. Wilding’s maid Edith is a brilliant portrayal of bewilderment that steals the show with her Funny Minion like movement and hilarious double takes. Day’s Condamine perfectly captures a sense of desperation as the situation spirals out of control.

Nancy Denis as Mrs. Bradman. Tracy Mann as Dr. Bradman

In Rattray’s imaginatively conceived interpretation of Coward’s sardonic comedy, contrast defies conformity. The excellent cast make the most of every moment, propelled by inventive business, tightly focused direction and Coward’s talent for sharply honed comedy. Fleischer’s set design, dominated by a large portrait of Condamine is a collection of contrasting elements. Order becomes chaos. The orderly secure world collapses at the collision with the mystical astral universe. Rattray and her cast and creative team joyfully embrace the nonsensical antithesis of Coward’s play and the result is a rollicking panacea for tough times. It worked wonders on audiences in war torn Britain and it worked wonders on a matinee audience still seeking respite from the pandemic. Sydney Theatre Company’s revival of this classic comedy from The Master even turned the grey skies to blue over Sydney Harbour with a smile on every audience face. Now that’s what I call magic!

Photos by Prudence Upton