Blithe Spirit

The inaugural season, in 1941 London, of Noël Coward’s tale (set in 1941) of the catastrophic results of a seance was so successful in raising war-weary spirits—so to speak—that it ran for years.  Surely Canberra Rep’s present production would have been equally successful, hitting, as it does, all the right notes.  Deadpan lines are delivered to devastating humorous effect.

The lights rose, on Rep’s opening night, to illuminate a set whose sumptuousness brought audience applause.  It takes quite a team to build a substantial set such as this production relies on, and Canberra Rep has been fortunate in the design and coordination that Russell Brown and Andrew Kay consistently provide.

We soon met the maid, Edith, scurryingly conscientious; the affable head of the household, Charles; and his correspondingly restrained wife, Ruth, as the household prepared for an amusing evening of table-rapping with a couple of guests.  All three characters and the ghost of Charles’s former wife, Elvira, were particularly engaging.  Emma Wood, as Ruth, displayed a supernatural facility for comic timing, upon which the play’s humour hinges.  Peter Holland was the perfect choice for the congenial English gentleman.  Anita Davenport made great mischief as Elvira’s ghost.  And Repertory newcomer Yanina Clifton played perfectly the diffident maid, Edith.

You won’t regret seeing Rep’s production of this classic at least once.

John P. Harvey

Images: L–R Anita Davenport, Peter Holland, and Emma Wood, & L–R Anita Davenport and Emma Wood, in Blithe Spirit.  Photographer: Helen Drum.