Theater review: ‘Blithe Spirit’

Elvira is a lovely, flighty, completely self-possessed troublemaker who is a real pain.

And that is an impressive accomplishment, considering that she is also quite dead.

As the fetching apparition at the center of Noel Coward’s tea-and-crumpets comedy Blithe Spirit, Elvira (Staci Cook) causes no end of trouble for her widowed husband, Charles Condomine (Stan Graner) and his very-much-alive wife, Ruth (Laura Jones), in Stolen Shakespeare Guild’s current production.

Set between the world wars in the sort of British mansion where you would expect to find Agatha Christie hiding bodies, this comedy drops in on novelist Charles at a point when he seems to have the world by the tail. He and Ruth obviously do not lack for any material comforts. Also, he is about to begin work on a new novel, which will deal with the supernatural.

As research for that book, the Condomines invite a local medium, Madame Arcati (Mary Tiner), over for a séance. Of course, they think Arcati is a total charlatan, as do the other guests, Dr. and Mrs. Bradman (Jason Morgan and Stefanie Glenn). We don’t know what the only other person in the house, the maid, Edith (Augusta Abene), thinks of Arcati because she tends to execute her domestic duties at a dead run (much to Ruth’s dismay), and we only see her in flashes.

The séance is held without producing anything tangible or intangible, and Arcati’s hosts manage to keep straight faces until the outlandish seer is out of ear shot, at which point they erupt in laughter at the antics of their wacky research subject. But, when the late (but not terribly lamented) Elvira appears and speaks to Charles, he stops laughing.

As the only one who can see her, his sanity is initially deemed as suspect as Arcati’s. But when Elvira tosses some vases around, Ruth has to accept that there is indeed a ghost in her house.

This production, briskly and adroitly directed by Morgan and his wife, Lauren (who are the founders and co-artistic directors of the company), keeps an appropriately stiff upper lip and does a fine job of honoring Coward’s gift for dry wit.

The standout performances come from Jones and Tiner. The former’s performance is as consistent and spot-on as her excellent British accent. The latter has as much fun as her role allows. Tiner’s accent could be thicker, but she brings plenty of energy and verve to her part.

The attractive, willowy Cook makes a superb Elvira. She is delightfully coquettish and devilishly evil (Elvira thinks that being pretty should allow her to literally get away with murder) in equal parts. Costumer Lauren Morgan clothes her in ethereal whites and silvers that put an exclamation point on her ghostliness. But, unfortunately, you will have to try to ignore how obvious her blond wig is.

Graner’s Charles is as stuffy as his home’s furniture and as wooden as its doors. That works to some extent for his quintessentially British character, but there are times when a little more animation would be welcome. When Charles sees Elvira for the first time, for example, his reaction is extremely subdued for a man looking into the eyes of woman who has been dead for five years. You would think that maybe a gasp would be in order.

Don’t overlook Abene’s performance. Since she is usually at a full gallop, it is easy to miss what nice work she is quietly doing.

Another laudable aspect of this production is the gorgeous set design by Jason Morgan. It is the crowning touch to a very complete effort by the Morgans in mounting, directing and costuming this production.

There are some elements of this presentation that could be stronger. But, overall, this show is charmingly true to its source and timely in its scheduling, this being the month when the all the ghouls come out. The living dead in this comedy are not too scary, but they are ever so droll.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Theater review: ‘Blithe Spirit’."