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.