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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 2017)
OCTOBER 5, 2017 // 3 SCRATCHPAD Present laughter at ‘Blithe Spirit’ By ERICK BENGEL COAST WEEKEND G ood comedy is famously known as a high-wire act. Timing, tone — everything must be fi nely calibrated for a show to be funny, for it to actually work as comedy. On Saturday, a friend and I caught “Blithe Spirit,” now running at Cannon Beach’s Coaster Theatre. Noel Cow- ard’s 1941 romantic comedy tells the story of Charles, coast a married man who invites a medium to perform a séance at his home as part of research for his book — and the medium ends up con- juring the ghost of Charles’ dead wife. It’s a play driven by witty, screwball dialogue that fl ies so fast it’s almost impossible to catch every joke. I asked the actors if it’s a challenge to keep a straight face while people are laugh- ing through their characters’ rapid-fi re repartee. INSIDE THIS ISSUE weekend arts & entertainment ON THE COVER Actors rehearse a scene from ‘The Birds’ at the Astor Street Opry Company. BOTTOM PHOTO BY COLIN MURPHEY See story on Page 10 4 10 14 THE ARTS Music with sax appeal The Dukes of Swing play in Chinook FEATURE COAST WEEKEND EDITOR ERICK BENGEL CALENDAR COORDINATOR REBECCA HERREN CONTRIBUTORS PATTY HARDIN RYAN HUME BARBARA LLOYD McMICHAEL PATRICK WEBB To advertise in Coast Weekend, call 503-325-3211 or contact your local sales representative. © 2017 COAST WEEKEND New items for publication consideration must be submitted by 10 a.m. Tuesday, one week and two days before publication. TO SUBMIT AN ITEM Rattling cages Astor Street Opry Company stages ‘The Birds’ DINING Mouth of the Columbia Bye Bye, Blackbird FURTHER ENJOYMENT MUSIC CALENDAR .....................5 SEE + DO ........................... 12, 13 CROSSWORD ........................... 20 CW MARKETPLACE ................ 18 GRAB BAG ................................ 23 “Only if something goes wrong,” said Ellen Jensen, who plays the dead wife’s spirit. That is, only if some- thing breaks the rhythm or reality of the performance. David Sweeney, who plays Charles, said that, over time, the actors get to know where the likely laughs are, and it becomes easier to an- ticipate them without giving away that they’re anticipating them. “The fi rst couple times you have an audience, you Find it all online! CoastWeekend.com features full calendar listings, keyword search and easy sharing on social media. Phone: 503.325.3211 Ext. 217 or 800.781.3211 Fax: 503.325.6573 E-mail: editor@coastweekend.com Address: P.O.Box 210 • 949 Exchange St. Astoria, OR 97103 Coast Weekend is published every Thursday by the EO Media Group, all rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced without consent of the publisher. Coast Weekend appears weekly in The Daily Astorian and the Chinook Observer. don’t know exactly what they’re going to respond to, and then after a while it becomes fairly clear what are the sort of usual triggers of laughs,” he said. “And sometimes they’re things you don’t expect.” The challenge for Swee- ney, he said, is “always to let the audience decide, and not try to telegraph, ‘I want you to laugh now.’” Every night is different, because every audience is different. Karen Martin, who plays the medium, said actors tend to give better perfor- mances, not when they have the silence to concentrate, but when the audience is laughing at things meant to be funny. “If they’re really quiet, that’s harder, because we need the feedback to build the energy,” she said. It helps when at least one audience member starts laughing early on, because the rest of the audience then feels it has permission to laugh, too. “A lot of people are very shy about laughing out loud,” she said. What the actors hope for is a joyous feedback loop: The actors drawing laughter from the audience, the laughter feed- ing the actors’ performances. So, if it’s a comedy, Martin said, “Laugh! Out loud!” On the night I saw “Blithe Spirit,” theatergo- ers — including me and my friend — did laugh out loud, and often. CW
