Theatre: Blithe Spirit

Noel Coward's classic 1941 play Blithe Spirit opens with author Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth inviting a medium, Madam Arcati, to hold a seance, with Charles hoping to use the experience as research for his next book.  Madam Arcati unwittingly brings back the spirit of Charles' first wife Elvira, who died 7 years ago from a heart attack after "laughing too hard at a BBC series".  Hijinks ensue as Ruth tries to get rid of her ghostly rival while Elvira tries to kill her beloved Charles so that he can reunite with her in the spirit world.  Elvira's efforts backfire as she accidentally kills Ruth instead, and now poor Charles is haunted by ghosts of both wives.

We had already attended a performance of Blithe Spirit years ago at the Shaw Festival, so the main attraction of watching it again was the chance to see Angela Lansbury in her 2009 Tony Award winning role of Madame Arcati–and she does not disappoint!   Lansbury, who will be 90 this year, handles her many lines of dialogue with aplomb  and attacks the physically challenging role with an impressive amount of vim and vigour.  She delivers a hilarious performance as the medium who goes into trances during the seances, twitching and gesturing as if she was doing an Egyptian dance.  With her auburn wig and flamboyant clothes, Lansbury seems years younger than she actually is.  Considering that she performs six nights per week, one can only hope to have her stamina and energy at that age.

Adding a bit of extra excitement for Downton Abbey fans was the presence of actor Charles Edwards, who starred as Lady Edith's missing lover on the hit TV show.  Now we know where Michael Gregson went!  He's playing his namesake Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit.

The set for this production had some intricate special effects that caused a table to shake and rattle during the seance, and the manor home to be torn apart by unseen ghosts towards the end of the play. 

Blithe Spirit is a fun play in its own right, made all the more special by the presence of Angela Lansbury.  It is interesting that Lansbury won the Tony for Best Featured (or supporting) Actress, but in this Mirvish production, she is billed and heavily hyped as the star of the show, receiving a loud round of applause when she first appeared on stage.  I guess this is fitting since it definitely would have been disappointing to attend the show and find an understudy in that role.  It was clear that Lansbury was the main reason to watch this production for much of the audience.