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Blithe Spirit Set in England
in 1930, the story revolves around novelist Charles Condomine and his
second wife Ruth. His first wife died several years earlier, and during
a seance whose sole purpose is to mock flighty medium Madame Arcati,
the first Mrs. Condomine is summoned back from the great beyond. Thing is, Elvira
Condomine can only be seen and heard by Charles, who is driven to distraction
by a dead wife who wants him back, and a living wife who thinks he's
gone mad. Charles is able
to convince Ruth of Elvira's presence, though, merely by having the
unseen home-wrecker pick up a few items and move them around ("floating"
objects have a way of persuading one to believe in ghosts). Now Ruth's attitude
changes. No longer thinking her husband crazy, she is instead jealous
of the meddling Elvira, who was irresponsible and carefree in life and
seems to be so in death, as well. This is a play
full of banter, some of it genuinely funny, but most of it simply awash
in primness, more clever and droll than laugh-out-loud funny. That's the whole
play, in fact: never dull, but never really hilarious either, though
there are moments of great laughter. Elvira has a bit of inspired physical
comedy as she is tormented by yet another ghost whom we can neither
see nor hear, and Madame Arcati's scenes generally crackle with her
insane energy and crazy-old-lady sensibilities. (Her line about riding
her bicycle through the woods and being "absolutely deafened with
birdsong" tickled me to no end.) One has to admire playwright Noel Coward's devilishly cavalier attitude toward death, too -- much blacker humor in that department than one might expect from such an old and "proper" British play. Cast List:
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