Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit ‘a light comedy about death’

Coloured in hues of pickle, moss and juniper, the wall-to-wall carpeting and two-storey-long draperies of the living room of Charles Condomine’s house in Kent evokes a desire to pack up a few belongings, step inside and move right in.

But this is just the set for Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit on now at the Shaw Festival Theatre. And, after a seance brings back a dead wife, audience members will be happy they stayed in their seats.

Charles is played by Damien Atkins, who expertly uses voice modulation to portray surprise and outrage. He is a novelist in search of material for his upcoming book about a “homicidal medium.” He hosts a dinner party, and invites Madame Arcati, a role designed for the magnificent Deborah Hay, to conduct a seance. It works too well, and Arcati conjures Charles’ first wife, Elvira, played by Julia Course.

Elvira is only too happy to be back among the living, languidly pouring herself, and her flowing dress and lime green tresses, over the long chesterfield as she tries to seduce Charles. Charles’ second, and (for now) very alive wife, Ruth (Donna Soares), is suitably freaked out.

Blithe Spirit is brimming with comic conveniences: neighbours Dr. and Mrs. Bradman, played by David Adams and Jenny L. Wright, and maid Edith (Katherine Gauthier).

The play, and the gorgeous set, descend into chaos as Coward’s characters explore love and marriage.

Madame Arcati is one of the great characters in theatre, and director Mike Payette made an exceptional choice in choosing Hay to play this robust character who relishes dry martinis and sandwiches, but not red meat before a seance.

“I make it a rule never to eat red meat before I work. It sometimes has an odd effect,” says Arcati.

This is a role requiring great physicality of Hay, whose comedy is reminiscent of Carol Burnett or Lucille Ball. The audience is introduced to her character as she shakes her body out after a seven-mile bicycle ride to the Condomines’ house. Watching Hay, as Arcati, put herself into a trance pre-seance, is a master class in slapstick.

Set and costume designer James Lavoie must have completed a PhD in colour theory. The colours of the suits and dresses complement the greens of the set. Think spice, pumpkin and honeycomb; amethyst, lavender and orchid.

Coward, who wrote the play in a week, once said that Blithe Spirit is a “light comedy about death,” and “an improbable farce in three acts.” Written during the Second World War, at a time when people were faced with horrendous deaths, curiosity was piqued about “reaching over to the other side.”

Coward’s mother was reported to have once visited a famous medium to ask spirits if putting Noel into acting on the stage at the age of 11 was the right thing to do. The answer was clear, and Violet Coward kept him in theatre.

Blithe Spirit is on until Oct. 8 at the Festival Theatre.