Blithe Spirit – Play – Review – Seattle Rep – Shows I've Seen

@showsiveseen Noël Coward’s "Blithe #Spirit" #play at @Seattle Rep. Unique interaction between the living & the dead. Beautiful set (by Carey Wong), neat stage magic, & funny astral bigamy! Closes next weekend. Review: showsiveseen.com/10771 Director: @Allison Narver Stage Manager: Jamie J. Kranz #theatre #showsiveseen #medium #ghost ♬ death of the party (sped up) – Amanda Frances

Elevator Thoughts (aka Tweet): Blithe Spirit play at Seattle Rep. Unique interaction between the living and dead characters. Beautiful set, neat stage magic, and hilarious astral bigamy! Closes next weekend.

Recommendation:
See it.

My Synopsis (No Spoilers): A séance gone wrong summons the spirit of a remarried man’s dead wife and chaos ensues.

Synopsis from the Licensor or Theatre Company: When Charles arranges a séance in his home as research for his upcoming novel, scatterbrained psychic Madame Arcati accidentally summons the spirit of his late wife, Elvira—which infuriates his current wife, Ruth. Charles suddenly finds himself caught in a supernatural love triangle and his attempts to fix the situation only make things worse. Filled with sparkling wit and hysterical hauntings, Noël Coward’s irreverent classic comedy will provide an otherworldly alternative to your usual holiday fare, and appeal to anyone who ever longed to see “Downton Abbey” go completely off the rails.

Type: Play

World Premiere: No

Several or Few Scenes: Several

Several or Few Settings/Locations: Just a living room

Static (Stationary) or Dynamic Set: Stationary

Prior Exposure/Knowledge Required: No

Defined Plot/Storyline: Yes, but it was heavy on the dialogue

Union Actors: All

Total Actors: 7

Perceived Pace of the Show: Medium speed

Was there an intermission? Yes

Length (Including Any Intermission): 2.5 hours

Was This the First Time I Attended a Production of this Show? Yes

Would I See It Again 3 Years from Now? Probably not, but it was good.

Mainstream Appeal: Medium

Other Rave(s) Not Mentioned Above

Stage Magic: I’m still wondering how the feather duster and fireplace poker came to life. I didn’t see any cables!
Cross-astral Communication: The actors uniquely and hilariously depicted how ghosts selectively haunt their chosen victims. For instance, when a living character tried to communicate with an invisible ghost, the actor often avoided eye contact with the ghost character and spoke to the wrong direction. It took great skill for the actors to switch between interacting with the living characters and the dead characters.
Scenic Design: Carey Wong designed a beautiful living room set that evoked a greener-toned version of the Tiffany jewelry aesthetic, with added ornamentation and elegant accents. Unfortunately, the dining room at the back was mostly out of the audience’s view and was used only sparingly in scenes.
Medium: Anne Allgood portrayed an entertainingly eccentric medium with quirky trance moves.
Lobby Amusements: Similar to Seattle Rep’s previous The Skin of Our Teeth, the theatre provided an assortment of games in the lobby to pass the time before the show and during intermission like Jenga, chess, billiards, tic tac toe, and connect four. The automatic piano was also a nice touch inspired by the play’s ghost theme.

Rant(s)

Fast-paced Dialogue: The play hit the ground running with its rapid-fire dialogue reminiscent of Gilmore Girls. Interestingly, I overheard other audience members making the same comparison with the Gilmore Girls. The play’s dialogue was so fast that I struggled to keep up during half of the first act. I remember this problem also plagued Seattle Rep’s previous major production The Skin of Our Teeth.
Randomness and Inconsistencies: There were several moments that felt random, disjointed, or out of place. For example, why spend several minutes watching the maid clean, when it didn’t seem to advance the plot in any way? Similarly, the montage of the exorcism didn’t align with the tone or energy of the play. There were also times when the ghost suddenly was invisible to the audience, which undermined the consistency of its visual representation. If a ghost will appear on stage to the audience, its visual presence should remain consistent throughout the show.
Maid: The audience seemed to enjoy the maid character, played by Sophie Kelly-Hedrick, but I was not amused. The character pandered too heavily on exaggerated, slapstick humor, often reduced to a simpleton with a babyish voice, random screaming outbursts, primitive grunting, and overly subservient responses like ‘yes-um.’ Her actions felt more barbaric than comedic. Plus, we don’t need comedic relief in a comedy play. While I didn’t find her amusing, the character’s resolution in the second act provided some redemption. On a side note, Sophie’s appearance reminded me of Alex Dunphy from TV’s Modern Family.

Other Musing(s) and Observation(s)

Seasonality: While I applaud Seattle Rep for not producing a cliche holiday-themed show (the grinch in me thinks Christmas shows are typically dreadful), this play would be better-suited for October’s Halloween season.

Theatre Company: Seattle Rep

Venue: Bagley Wright Theater at Seattle Rep

Venue Physical Address: 155 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109

Price Range: $20-108

Ticket Affordability Options: See the theatre’s official pages about discounts and pay-what-you-can performances

Dates: November 29 to December 22, 2024

Seating: Assigned Seating

Parking: There are paid lots and paid street parking. I usually park on Mercer to the West of 1st Ave. There’s usually also plentiful street parking around Safeway. If there’s an event in Seattle Center or Climate Pledge Arena, street parking is usually limited and much more expensive.

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Pictures: See production pictures below by Nate Watters.

Cast and Production Team: See pictures below.