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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2017)
SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 // 11 “Working in the language of Coward is a delight,” he said. “If you can get people to come, then theater can do what theater does — and that’s to open minds and make us more capable of communication.” The play fosters the art of conversation. “There are events in the play, but what holds our interest is the joy of language, and the battle of language.” Coward created memorable scripts in which the outcome is rarely what the audience expects, spawning decades of edgy British comedy that morphed from the witty radio and TV classics of the 1960s into the Monty Python phenomenon that followed. During World War II, he went on vacation after his London home was bombed and wrote “Blithe Spirit” during an intense six- day typing session. Creating a play about ghosts for a war- time audience was a risk, but humor offered an escape from troubled times. (Similarly, his “Private Lives” made its debut in 1930 amid the global fi nancial crisis.) “Blithe Spirit” ran for almost 2,000 performances, beating the record. Coward reportedly said, “disdaining archness and false modesty, I will admit that I knew it was witty, I knew it was well constructed, and I also knew that it would be a success.” It opened in London in 1941 with Margaret Rutherford as the medium, a role she would reprise in Coward’s 1945 movie adaptation starring Rex Harrison. Coward himself and John Gielgud acted in other ear- ly stage productions; Clifton Webb featured in the fi rst Broadway version. Much later, re- vivals featured Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati and earned her a fi fth Tony Award. “She’s the most interesting character,” James said, recalling one line in which the robust woman shrugs off the physical exertion of cycling seven miles. “It’s the one that everyone wants to play. She’s a fake, but what happens in the show is her biggest success.” Martin, North Coast theater regular, is savoring the opportunity. “Edward says she is really a phony, but I also know that she doesn’t realize that she is a phony. She is serious about what she has done — so that makes it very comic.” Sweeney, a North Coast pastor, takes the male lead of Charles, who is not all he seems. “We fi nd out that in both of his marriages they were not being truthful with each oth- er,” James said. “We fi nd out he is extremely shallow, but had two beautiful women in his life. We have all met that guy. He’s ‘on’ all of the time, and when you are ‘on’ all of the time you are not refl ective.” Sweeney is relishing the role. “He is sort of a ‘type’ from the 30s or 40s. He never really settled down,” he said. “He got mar- ried, but that didn’t stop other things from happening. So it’s karma — comic karma.” Others appearing are Thomas and Cathey Ryan as a married couple and Evelyn Isak- son as the maid. Several cast members are making their Coaster debuts, and Martin delights in that. “Doing community theater, you make friends with people that you work with over and over, and then you welcome new people in, and they all get to be like family,” she said. • • • Theater trivia: The title of the play is taken from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “To a Skylark.” “Hail to thee, blithe spirit! Bird thou never wert.” CW PHOTOS BY PATRICK WEBB ABOVE: The exertion of the séance appears too much for collapsed medium Madame Arcati, played by Karen Martin, as Charles (David Sweeney) and his second wife, Ruth (Katrina Godderz, at left) look on. The spirit of Charles’ fi rst wife, Elvira (Ellen Jensen), center, is also present, and the com- edy in the show occurs, in part, because Ruth cannot see her. TOP: Suave writer Charles (David Sweeney) chats amiably with his second wife, Ruth (Katrina Godderz, at right) while the interfering ghost of his fi rst wife, Elvira (Ellen Jensen, center), does everything possible to spoil their relationship.
