Hitch's review in the San Diego Theatre Scene 15 May, 2008

The Condomine’s (Ruth and Charles) home is luxurious even by 1940’s Hollywood standards. Their living room has light sconces, a view of the garden, a lovely draped archway to the servants’ areas, and elegant furnishings. Director Pete Shaner, who also plays Charles, has moved Noel Coward’s delightful piece. 

The tale is quite simple. The Condomines and guests, Dr. and Mrs. Bradman (James E. Steinberg and Renee Gandola), are entertained by Madame Arcati (Ashley Gardner). She, quite by chance, conjures up the former Mrs. Condomine, Elvira (Victoria Mature), who has passed seven years prior. Ruth (Nicole Wolber) takes umbrage to this intrusion into her marriage. Complications build from this point. 

As we are being seated, ordering a drink from the bar (love this theatre), and conversing with our table mates, the maid Ruth (Amanda Everett) is busy straightening up the livingroom. As the lights dim on the audience and come up on the stage she quite shyly addresses the audience with the pre-show blurb. Cute. 

Director Shaner cast for both talent and type. As Dr. and Mrs. Bradman, Steinberg and Gandola are perfect contrasts. He looks reserved, always properly dressed, and she would embarrass any husband almost immediately. She sits most indiscreetly, mutterings from her mouth tend to be “oops, I said that” type of thing, and she misses every cue her husbands sends out. We love her. 

Gardner’s Madame Arcati, wildly costumed in many layers, necklaces, and enough rings that it’s a wonder she can lift her hands, is a study in ineptness. Her machinations to bring forth the long-dead include something that could almost be called a dance. Writer Charles is steeped in grist for his next book. While she is sincere, her audience is laughing at her strange actions and incantations. Gardner has taken her way over the top, and it is delightful. 

As with the doctor and his wife, Shaner and Wolber are opposites. She is tall and thin and contoured in elegant dresses, thanks to costumer Jennifer Kindsche, while he is  more of the athletic type. Her character is tense to the point of being hyper. He is much more laid back, quickly accepting his former wife’s ghostly presence.  

Finally we come to Victoria Mature’s Elvira, a true blithe spirt. Elvira was quite a bit younger than Charles. Her beauty makes one think of the contemporary term “trophy wife.” It is apparent that Mature is enjoying her haunting experience. Her smile can melt a man’s heart and ward off any female competition. She is an interesting contrast to Wolber. Both are lovely and charming and extremely different. Director Shaner chose well. 

Blithe Spirit may be approaching 70, but she has aged well. Moving her from London to Hollywood caused some dialog changes. Alas, some colloquial British terms survived. The show moves smoothly with logical blocking. One irritant, since the play takes place at dinner, after dinner, morning, afternoon, early evening, etc. is that the clock was only changed once. I know, I’m picky, but the bloody thing is center stage.

Lastly, this is the best telling of Blithe Sprite in recent years. The casting works well. The characterizations are right-on. It was a fun evening visiting an old friend. 

Ghosts can appear anywhere, so why not move Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit from Kent in 1939 to Hollywood in the ’40s, that long-gone glamorous era when ghosts really knew how to dress?

Coronado Playhouse presents a sumptuous Tinseltown production of the Coward favorite through June 1, directed by Pete Shaner (who also plays Charles).

Coward, like many British writers of the time, spent a few years writing patriotic and sentimental plays like This Happy Breed and touring extensively for the war effort. Blithe Spirit was written in his off hours at about the same time, as a self-indulgent escape from war work.

The plot has skeptical middle-aged screenwriter Charles Condomine (Shaner) inviting well known medium Madame Arcati (Ashley Gardner) to the house for a seance in order to observe her in action for a screenplay he has in mind. Along for the ride are Charles’ wife Ruth (Nicole Wolber) and friends Dr. and Mrs. Bradman (James E. Steinberg and Renée Gandola).

The evening becomes problematic when the spirit conjured is that of Charles’ first wife Elvira (Victoria Mature). The difficulty is that only Charles and the audience can see or hear Elvira, leading to strange and amusing miscommunication between Ruth and Charles.

Elvira, it seems, misses Charles and wants to kill him off in order to get him back, but botches the attempt and Ruth ends up in the spirit world instead.

Blithe Spirit is nonsense, fluff, a trifle – all those things – and also, as mounted here, delightful eye candy. Brittany Hauselmann’s expansive set design is deep, wide and handsome. Costumer Jennifer Kindsche has done some terrific period costumes, especially for Ruth, and Elvira is a knockout in her long dresses.

Shaner is solid as Hollywood wheeler-dealer Charles, the unbeliever caught in a trap of his own making but still trying to take advantage of it. Wolber is a properly bewildered Ruth, worried by the onset of Charles’ seeming schizophrenia as he hears and responds to apparently nonexistent voices. Mature is a perfect Elvira – sexy, kittenish, verbally adept, with a figure that won’t quit. Gardner is delightfully wacky from costume to accent as Mme. Arcati. The rest of the cast is equally adept.

Flashy costumes, spectacular set, fine performances – what else could you ask?

My one cavil is that the actors seem not to be adjusted to this sound-swallowing set, and too many lines are lost. Speak up, folks, for the sake of your audience.

Peggy Lips-Kaz's review in the San Diego WriteWay

In the Director’s notes, he welcomes us to Hollywood, circa 1941. Coward wrote the play in 1941 but it originally was staged in England. The change in venue was nice and more acceptable to the 21st century audience.
The stage set was beautiful and true to the 1940’s era in Southern California. The costumes and hairstyles were very well done to reflect the wartime attitudes of the country.

The story starts with an invitation for an evening of dinner and séance to Dr. and Mrs. Bradman from their friends, Charles and Ruth Condomine. Charles is working on a screen play wherein one of his characters is a psychic charlatan . He has invited a “famous” medium, Madam Arcati to lead the séance so that he will have material for his screenplay. They don’t really believe in her abilities to be able to talk to spirits, but it was anticipated to be an enjoyable evening.

Noel Coward’s phrasing and use of words is a challenge in any play. Here, he has the main characters belonging to the upper crust of the Hollywood society. This translates into snobby, up-tight perfectly proper manners.
You can imagine the surprise after Madam Arcati, and their guests have left, Charles discovers that his first wife, Elvira, has returned from the grave to be with him. Elvira is played by Victoria Mature. She is stunning in her shiny dress with sparkling accessories. She truly is the ‘Blithe Spirit”. I had to look up blithe in the dictionary. It means disapproving and or playful, not anxious. She was all that and a whole lot more. Charles, played by Pete Shaner is shocked and then pleased that she has returned to be with him. The second wife, Ruth, very proper and prudish doesn’t want to share her husband with a ghost. She is played by Nicole Elaine Wolber. The other two energetic roles, that of Edith, the maid, played by Amanda Everett, and Madam Arcati, played by Ashley Gardner were kingpins in the story.

Noel Coward wrote this as a farce. It was in a time when spiritualism was having a renaissance due to the war, because people wanted to contact their loved ones who had died. England had been bombed and was devastated, and he wrote humor. A farce means a ridiculous and unlikely event or situation. The story line here certainly is written for it. I think the play needed more “hamming” up here and there. A bigger gesture, and exaggerated reaction, a slowed down line, a pause for some dramatic effect. Edith’s role was well played. Madam Arcati’s role needs to be physically enlarged and might be helped with either lights flickering or weird music emanating while she is going into a trance. Her costuming was perfectly eccentric. Her role was meant to be comedic and dramatic because no one took her seriously. I think Charles in the last scene, with a gleam in his eye was playing it up very well. That was the spark I was looking for. I felt he was too restrained and serious earlier. Hammy and dramatic, not necessarily serious.

The story has some good twists and turns. Coward doesn’t believe in relationships very much. Charles likes to play at being married, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy the long haul experience. The two wives seem to reflect the two sides of him. So, how would you like two wives with you at the same time?

The technique of lowering the lights to change the staging is great and audiences are used to it. The confusion was when the stage lights went out and on again to show a new scene. The audience didn’t know when to applaud, like at the end of a scene. It gave the feeling that the play was over several times near the end.
The play was fun and the actors did a great job. It amazes me the talent this company utilizes. The actor who played Charles is also the Director. The producer, Lizzie Mander was a great actress in their former production of “Black Coffee”.

The Coronado Playhouse is in it’s 62nd year and is the longest running community theater in San Diego County. I will continue attending and enjoying their plays. I love the theater!!!

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