Theatre
Blithe Spirit
MADC Clubrooms, Santa Venera

In her article for The Guardian last weekend, Sarah Hughes claimed that “the ghost story is back” on the literary radar and finally supplanting other monsters and ghoulies in favour of the rich tradition of haunted houses and apparitions which proper psychological spine thrillers are based on.

What the MADC has chosen to do over the last two very successful weekends has been a clever return to tradition without compromising the entertainment value of a good witty comedy over a darker horror piece. In choosing Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, director Polly March took a gamble on putting up a play needing very careful treatment to work convincingly. It was a gamble which paid dividends.

Thanks to the meticulous attention to detail in the set, whose construction and design were in the hands of Claudio Apap and Jason Apap, and the period props carefully sourced by Josette Gatesy Lewis and Laura Bonnici’s costumes, the stage at the MADC Clubrooms in Santa Venera appeared larger and more accommodating than it really is.

This illusion of size, together with the authenticity of the atmosphere and March’s light design (with Rachel Galea), helped carry the piece easily, and this character-driven play, which could so easily have appeared rather dated, came across as positive retro-revival in full 1940s chic.

If the play was visually pleasing, then so too was it entertaining in its cast’s slick and calmly-confident performances.

Stefan Cachia Zammit’s Charles Condomine, a rich socialite and novelist, is adequately shocked and subsequently annoyed when his first wife pays him an unexpected visit – from the astral plane – at a dinner-party séance which goes too far.

Condomine as portrayed by Cachia Zammit was just the right kind of upper-class intellectual snob and combined dry wit with exasperation at his first wife Elvira’s (Cathy Lawlor) appearance following the séance held by the melodramatic and muddlesome Madame Arcati (Polly March). Lawlor was in top form and made Elvira shine with her cheeky remarks and coquettish behaviour, aggravating Ruth Condomine (Coryse Borg), Charles’s current – and living – second wife.

Ruth goes through phases of incredulity and vexation at what she believes to be a nasty trick played by her husband, until ultimately, she too starts to believe that Elvira is haunting their husband and is decidedly against sharing him – even with the dead.

Borg interpreted Ruth commendably as a waspish woman concerned with her country pursuits and entertaining her guests – a mistress fully in control of her own castle – or so she thinks. Her untrained maid Edith (Tina Rizzo) becomes the last of her problems when faced with supernatural forces like Elvira.

While trying not to lose face with her guests, Violet (Francesca Briffa) and George Bradman (John Marinelli), Ruth attempts to secure Madame Arcati’s help to send Elvira on her way back to eternal rest. But the medium is more impressed that she has made things happen, and warns Ruth that ridding themselves of the spirit may prove to be quite hard.

March’s comic role as the eccentric Arcati was fun to watch, especially when she had to contend with George Bradman’s scepticism – an unimaginative and practical man whom Marinelli portrayed well. In her interactions with Ruth, Briffa’s Violet was the well-meaning friend whose purpose on Coward’s part was to serve as a means of exposing the subtly-competitive ways of polite society – making a comment-ary on certain class stereotypes while keeping his audience entertained with his clipped lines and British humour.

What keeps classic plays like Coward’s current, driven as they are by characteris-ation, is the actors’ ability to create such good personae as to connect with the audience.

This is something which can truly be said for Blithe Spirit, which was a definite success for MADC and a good example of how to turn vintage into advantage.