THEATRE REVIEW: BLITHE SPIRIT at The Black Swan Theatre

Shane | 30 July 2015 | Reply

THEATRE REVIEW: BLITHE SPIRIT at The Black Swan Theatre
Perth, Western Australia – July 2015
Directed by Jeffrey Jay Fowler
Starring Adam Booth, Adriane Daff, Michelle Fornasier, Ella Hetherington, Michael Loney, Jo Morris, Alison van Reeken
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

As the Black Swan Theatre’s heavy red velvet curtains open on a WWII-era drawing room, Noel Coward’s spectral comedy is brought immediately to life by the talented cast.

Full of Coward’s acerbic wit and intellectually poking fun at the morals and mores of the day, Blithe Spirit never translates as dated, and with a slow build-up through the first half, the audience are taken on a journey to a place where the dead are almost as angry and sarcastic as the living.

Novelist Charles Condomine (Adam Booth), organises a séance with Madame Arcanti (Alison van Reeken stepping in for Roz Hammond, who was forced to withdraw from the performance due to illness) – not as a believer in such things, but in order to see how it is done so he can write about such things in his new book.

Unbeknownst to all involved, Condomine’s late first wife Elvira (Jo Morris) is summoned, and enjoys her second chance with her husband so much that she sets about making life difficult for his very much alive second wife Ruth (Adriane Daff).

Coward wrings every hilarious nuance out of this ghostly love triangle from beyond the grave, and Fowler’s direction is sharp and true, reverential to the text and making no attempt to pointlessly update the story to the modern age. As always Black Swan excel with a realistic set and costumes.

The performances and banter are fast-paced, and from the eccentric Arcanti to the flummoxed Condomine, the prim Ruth to the flighty and desperate to stay in the land of the living Elvira, and the dotty maid Edith (Ella Hetherington), every actor hits the jackpot.