‘Blithe Spirit’ abounds with supernatural grace

‘Blithe Spirit’ abounds with supernatural grace

South Coast Repertory reworks the classic comedy

By Lawrence Sullivan

In spite of our angst-happy age, Noel Coward still survives as a
precious relic of elegant froth and high-flown wit. In his world,
dry martinis play central characters. The manner-born are mockingly
saluted. The grittier complexities of life yield to style, pure and
polished.

The South Coast Repertory’s production of Coward’s 1941 "Blithe
Spirit," directed by William Laudel, treats us to his world with
gorgeous grace. From honed accents to exquisite mannerisms, SCR’s
cast recreates the original, very English mood that Sir Noel’s
style demands.

Smug, pristine, garishly eccentric, Nicholas Hormann and Mary
Layne aptly don the veneer of their characters, Charles and Ruth
Condomine. The two candidly discuss Charles’ first "passed over"
wife Elvira. As Ruth dismisses the late Mrs. Condomine’s "greater
physical attractiveness," the young percolation of jealousy is
already clear. We get a plain sense of marriage born on the
rebound. But in the spirit of British understatement that Coward so
admired, Hormann and Layne brilliantly "act" as though these
tensions were of trivial consequence.

Their guests, the Bradmans (John-David Keller and Mary Kay
Wulf), arrive with all their upper crusty bluster and await the
evening’s extravaganza. Charles has invited a local oddball
spiritualist for dinner and seance at the Condomine home in Kent.
Of course none of them are so crass to take this lunatic seriously.
Rather, Charles hopes to observe some of the "tricks of the trade"
for his new novel about a homicidal medium.

When Jean Stapleton sweeps in as Madame Arcati, bedizened in
flowery flowing array, she is sure to be an inspirational success,
for Condomine and Coward alike. And her spectacle amuses us as much
as it does the characters on stage. She warms up with a house-wife
version of ballet bar work, swims the breaststroke on the ottoman,
waltzes around the parlor, and when the moment comes, dashes to the
door and flips off the lights.

Smirking at the whole business of ouiji-board fun and psychic
foolery, Charles is in for a phantasmic discovery: Elvira comes
back to him from the other side.

With the grace and beauty of a 1930s starlet, Nike Doukas slips
sensuously into character and triumphantly onto the stage. But only
the audience and Charles can see her.

The performance reaches new heights of hilarity and panache.
Elvira immediately mounts a coquettish campaign to disrupt Charles’
current marriage. And Charles’ life, a suavely maintained juggling
act, is thrown out of kilt.

If we recall the European state of affairs in 1941 when the play
opened in London, we might detect allusions to such notions as
appeasement, chaos and the emotional permanence of lost loved ones.
But its utter insouciance and frivolity ­ just what Londoners
needed to restore their faith in the lighter side of life ­
are the true champions of its fame.

The stage is a sumptuous display of English gentility. Every
aspect of the production is exquisite. Costume designer Ann Bruice
treats our eyes to the elegant ’40s fashion with Charles’ antique
suits, Ruth’s two-tone dresses and Elvira’s flowing angelic gown
with crisscross straps that accentuate her delicate épaule.
The calculated bouleversement in the final scene of Cliff
Faulkner’s elaborate and sophisticated set is in itself a grand
attraction.

Often the qualities that make Coward’s genre distinct become too
obvious a currency on stage, and too often devaluated. But in
testimony to the strength of SCR’s production, we quickly (but
imperceptibly) lose our sense of spectacle and feel the mayhem as a
delightful experience.

Theater: "Blithe Spirit" by Noel Coward. Playing at the South
Coast Repertory through May 14. Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.,
Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. TIX: $26-$36.
Student discounts available. For more info call (714) 957-4033.