Blithe Spirit
by Noel Coward
directed by J. Damian Gillen
THE CAST
Edith .................................Cari Cantu
Ruth...................................Peyton Darrow
Charles .............................Ken Bradley
Doctor Bradman.................Richard Craig
Mrs. Bradman....................Katie Brock
Madame Arcati..................Lana Dieterich
Elvira.................................Bernadette Nason
Voice of Daphne................Jacqueline Darrow
Community theatre lives! And right in the middle of Austin!
Onstage Theatre Company's Blithe Spirit is living proof that old-fashioned community theater - done for the fun of it, not professional gain - has earned an honorable place in Austin's turbulent arts scene. Noel Coward's mannered comedy about a writer haunted by the ghost of his first wife fits the community format perfectly, and Dougherty Arts Center's echo-prone hall is a throwback to bygone days of volunteer little theatres.
Director J. Damian Gillen delivers the right pace, tone and flow of smart patter, and set designer Michael Stuart gives us a lovely English drawing room. Most comfortable with the brittle Coward style is Peyton Darrow, playing the petulant (living) Wife No. 2 with effortless poise. As the late wife, Bernadette Nason was impish, and, yes, blithe.
Lana Dieterich chose not to play spiritualist Madame Arcati as a British music-hall novelty act - the usual approach - but she missed some laughs by making her so down-to-earth. As the writer harried by two wives, Ken Bradley made all the right moves and spoke with a highly correct accent (as did the rest of the cast), but proved overly loud and emphatic. Blithe Spirit is the best Onstage show I've seen so far. If it reminds one fondly of Austin's community-theater past, is that such a bad thing?
--Michael Barnes
Austin American Statesman
 | ||||
