Blithe Spirit
Noël Coward has always been recognized for his breezy, cheeky comedies where hateful things are said with such aplomb that no one seems to take offense. However, as with most comics, there is a dark underground stream in Coward that has rarely if ever been tapped.
No so with ANW’s ghoulish production of Blithe Spirit, a play that shares Coward’s signature light if hateful dialogue. Visiting director Damaso Rodriguez has unleashed an underground vein that is often missed. The situation is this: After the death of his first wife, Charles Condomine (Scott Lowell) married a very different woman in Ruth (Jill Van Velzer). Both, however, share a curiosity about the after-life. When the couple invites Madame Arcati (Jane Macfie), a village eccentric to hold a séance for their amusement. Despite her ineptitude, Madame Arcati manages to come up with a real apparition, and it is none other than Elvira Condomine whom, we learn, choked to death while laughing.
The rest of the play shows the absurdities that can ensue when a ghost decides to take up residence in her former husband’s home. It is hilarious…or is it? Rodriguez colors Coward’s fluffy repartee with Halloween tinges. Instead of the glamorous ghost that Elvira represents, he has provided actress Abby Craden with a frizzy wig reminiscent of Elsa Lancaster and ghoulish makeup as it would normally appear in a cadaver, complete with telling wounds.
That is not to say that Rodriguez’ s production is devoid of humor…far from it. He is blessed with the comic timing of Alison Elliot as the maid, Edith; appropriately ditsy visitors to the manor in Dr. Bradman (Gibby Brand), and Mrs. Bradman (Jacque Lynn Colton). As second wife Ruth, Jill Van Velzer takes a monumentally stuffy character and focusing it right out of the ball park. And one warms up to Lowell as Charles, the husband who is in the midst of it all despite his problems with an English accent.
Rodriguez is tremendously helped by the fine scenic design by Kurt Boetcher and E. B. Brooks’ costumes, although the period wanders around from the early forties to fifties. Monica Lisa Sabedra’s wonderful wigs helps out. The eerie sound design (Doug Newell) and James P. Taylor’s scary lighting (although only in some moments) contributes of this Blithe Spirit’s darker vision.
A Noise Within’s Blithe Spirit performs in repertory with Measure for Measure and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations at 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale 91204, beginning on November 6th at 8:00 P.M through December 17th. See www.anoisewithin.org for complete schedule. Tickets from $42.00 to $46.00. Phone (818) 240-0910 or online.