BLITHE SPIRIT To 11 July.
Oldham/Basingstoke/Harrogate.
BLITHE SPIRIT
by Noël Coward.
Coliseum Theatre To 6 June.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat 6 June 2.30pm.
TICKETS: 0161 624 2829.
www.coliseum.org.uk
then Haymarket Theatre Basingstoke 11-20 June.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat 13, 18 June 2pm.
BSL Signed 11 June.
01256 844244.
www.anvilarts.org.uk
then Harrogate Theatre 25 June-11 July 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 2.30pm 4, 11 July no performance 29 June.
01423 502116.
Runs: 2hr 35min two intervals.
Review: Stoon 27 May 2009.
It’s bigamy, but not as we know it.
Noël Coward’s 1941 spooky comedy topped Oldham’s recent audience popularity poll. And director Robin Hereford’s mix of frothy light-heartedness is comfortably the Coliseum’s best production since Travels With My Aunt last October.
Socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, short on ideas for his next book, hosts a séance to gather material at a dinner-party he and second wife Ruth throw for their friends the Bradshaw’s. Plus Madame Arcarti, a medium unaware she’s under observation. She succeeds in summoning the spirit of Charles’ first wife Elvira who died 7 years earlier. Charles alone can see or hear her. Ruth not surprisingly feels a tad threatened.
Coward felt the wartime public would want something amusing and escapist. It’s a genteel, teasing affair, reliant upon the cast to maximize enjoyment through their comic reactions to the absurdity and frustration of the situation they face. Both the living and dead deliver.
Mark Healy’s Charles attracts sympathy as he tries to convince a disbelieving Ruth that he has witnessed Elvira’s ghost, Emily Pithon superbly observes Ruth’s gradually increasing insecurity and ultimate realisation that three’s a crowd. The Bradshaws both produce memorable cameos. Dr Bradshaw (Christopher Wilkinson) is the voice of scientific reason whilst his wife’s (Roberta Kerr) endearing scattiness whets the appetite for the post-dinner entertainment.
The first Act meanders before Madame Arcati enters. it’s worth the wait though. Alwyn Taylor’s eccentric and off-centre yet exudes a real sense of the spiritual, with her straight-faced professionalism and spontaneous joy at success.
Amy Hall’s sudden entrance as Elvira, all ghostly white and primed for flirtatious mischief with facial expressions that act as silent commentary on proceedings, suggests she’s dropped out of the ether.
The middle Act is the strongest as feathers fly in fine style – it all seems a bit déjà vu by Act 3 but the whole thing is always plausible – especially the séance (beautifully lit by Thomas Weir) and well acted, though Edith the maid (Liz Carney) is a bit too Chuckle Brothers for my liking.
With productions due in Nottingham & Manchester later this year, Madame Arcarti’s diary is looking busy; justifiably so.
Edith: Liz Carney.
Elvira: Amy Hall.
Charles: Mark Healy.
Mrs Bradman: Roberta Kerr.
Ruth: Emily Pithon.
Madame Arcati: Alwyn Taylor.
Dr Bradman: Christopher Wilkinson.
Director: Robin Herford.
Designer: Michael Holt.
Lighting: Thomas Weir
Sound: Mark Stopford.
2009-05-31 02:04:04