Berkshires arts reviews

July 19, 2007 performance reviewed by Frances Benn Hall

Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit”, now playing in a zesty, zany and fast-paced production at the Williamstown Theatre Festival has a great deal going for it.

To begin with the set—it is magnificent, a beauty to behold that, without calling attention to it, has the multiple entrances and exits that farce/comedy demands for its rapid-fire execution.

Jessica Hecht, Wendie Malick, Bernard White, Michael Boatman & Adriane Lenox in BLITHE SPIRIT at Williamstown, photo by Joan Marcus.

This set makes possible an ingenious entrance for Elvira, the ghost of Charles’ first wife who is unexpectedly evoked by a medium during a séance in his living room. Ironically Charles had invited the medium, whom he was sure was a fraud, in order to get material for his next book. That his second wife Ruth is present and very much alive, although she can neither see or hear the intruder, makes for a strangely configured triangle that must get much worse before it becomes better.

Director Maria Mileaf has set the play (first produced in 1941) in a period, judging by the music that roared (a bit too loudly) during the scene shifts, in a time roughly after the turbulent 60’s; the décor of the elegant living room is dominated by a huge chrome swiveling lamp and the bean-bag chair great for collapses into it.

Katherine Roth’s elegantly designed costumes evoke both the period and the zaniness in which their wearers participate.

Since many having seen earlier versions of the play, on both stage and screen, the casting can be a delightful surprise. The blithe spirit who joins this séance does not float gracefully in as one might expect.

Elvira (Kate Jennings Grant) arrives not as a wraith wafting through those French windows. And once on the scene she is as active as a naughty child, flouncing and pouncing, delighting in antagonizing Charles’ current wife.

Ruth (Jessica Hecht) is a lusty contender in her war with a woman she cannot see but whom she eventually acknowledges as a rival. Her involvement in the plot is clearly marked by her hair styles which become more and more bizarre as her frustration increases.

Charles, (Bernard White) who unwittingly has set all in motion is in control of his character as an actor in this play, despite the fact that his character must be out of control of a situation he evoked but cannot control. In this role Bernard White is pivotal, his diction clear, his motor skills agile, and he is believable despite the chaos in his living room.

And of course there is Madame Arcati (Wendie Malick) unlike as possible as any Madame Arcati previous productions have led one to expect. Far from an aging dumpy reassuring sweater-clad Brit, ( read Margaret Rutherford and her successors) she is the most agile among awesome contenders.

We learn, as with previous bearers of the role, that she has arrived by bicycle and have the feeling that she must have sat on the handlebars and pedaled backwards. How she managed it in the robe over exotic robe of arcane glory that she removes before she stands in her stripped down (and sexy) elegance for the fray, one can only imagine.

And once she takes over with her outlandish swoops, poses, and the moving of furniture, she inhabits the role with glee and confidence, nothing like the dowdy seer of yesteryear and helping set the tone and pace of the farce.

And then there is the maid (Jenn Harris) .Her awesome incapabilities as a house servant from the moment that she scurries on stage, are raised to a hysterical level when she attempts to slow down, and will lead to further chaos when her clairvoyance becomes evident.

Dr Bradman and his wife (Michael Boatman and Adriane Lenox) neighbors and present at the séance are the only sane characters in the wild goings on. They handle their brief roles with grace and dignity, and leave the fray unharmed.

Noel Coward purists, or those who have pre-set ideas as to how these characters should be cast and played, may not be enchanted with this production. Although the dialog remains the same, much concerning the décor and especially the blocking of the characters’ antics has been changed.

As reviewer, once I adjusted to the director’s concept and tone, I found much to delight in its irreverent “take” on a classic comedy/farce. Having seen the play often, I suppose I expected Elvira to float airily through those French windows. When she (and the director) fooled me, I was not only delighted but willing to go along with the tone and pace her entry set.

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