Sublime 'Spirit' blithely channels Coward

Madame Arcati needs little more than a martini and a song to communicate with dead people. But the eccentric medium from Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" has nothing on director John McIlwee, who appears to have a direct line to the dead playwright himself.

McIlwee directs Coward's ghostly farce as if it were a concerto, pulling nuance, color and dynamic from every passage. It's a supreme kickoff to the third annual Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy professional theater series, which in its short history has produced some of the Triangle's finest productions.

Producers K.D. Kennedy Jr. and his son, Michael -- the theater is named for their family -- serve their series well by putting Coward first on the lineup and placing him in experienced hands. McIlwee, director and costume designer of N.C. State's University Theatre, has a long history with the British playwright. And it shows in this production, which melds Coward's witty script with an able ensemble, impressive sets and McIlwee's expressive costumes.

"Blithe Spirit," written in 1941, looks at the way we reshape our memories. Novelist Charles Condomine (Eric Carl) invites Madame Arcati (Joanne Dickenson) to his home, ostensibly for dinner but with the hope that she will conduct a seance so he can study her methods as research for one of his book characters.

Charles' wife, Ruth (Fran Dilts Wescott), tolerates the scheme, though she's skeptical of Madame Arcati's alleged supernatural abilities, as are their other guests, Dr. George Bradman (Gregor McElvogue) and his wife, Violet (Jan Morgan).

The seance is intended to conjure any old spirit, but when Charles' dead wife, Elvira (Lynda Clark), shows up, invisible to all but Charles, she wreaks emotional havoc. Charles jokes about Elvira's faults, but he clearly has an idealized memory of her, and his current wife no longer measures up. Elvira manipulates Charles with the assured hand of experience, going to drastic extremes to win his eternal allegiance. Even the mousy maid (Hilary Russo) gets burned by her schemes.*

Besides being uproariously funny, "Blithe Spirit" is a shrewd study of marriage and faith. And because Coward was gay and some of his plays contain veiled references to homosexuality, the play has also been interpreted as a look at closeted gay life, with Elvira representing the irresistible but dangerous secret gay lover.

Coward's script spends no time idling, and McIlwee's cast doesn't, either. Eric Carl plays the dapper Charles with an alluring blend of cockiness and vulnerability, and he makes indignation seem like an attribute. His scenes with Ruth are seamless and natural, and when Elvira enters, the comedy of errors is delicious.

But the play belongs to Madame Arcati -- that is, when she's played well. And Dickenson, McIlwee's longtime cabaret partner, is sublime. Her physical expression adds volumes of humor to even the simplest comment, and her vocal inflections make songs of Coward's barbs.

Like Elvira herself, "Blithe Spirit" won't be visible long at Kennedy. Catch this apparition before it disappears.

Staff writer Orla Swift

can be reached at 829-4764 or orla.swift@newsobserver.com.