Review: Blithe Spirit at Hope Mill Theatre is ‘full of charm, chaos, and chuckles’

Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit is the kind of play that used to be a staple at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Suranne Jones and Milo Twomey headed up a production there over 15 years ago and it went down very well.

The farcical elements fit like a glove in that space, as characters can enter at different points of the theatre in the round, which suits a ghost story like this one. I have always found the piece a little bit dated and light as a feather.

So I was pleased when I heard that Her Productions were bringing the play at the Hope Mill, as they are known for their contemporary remixes.

Blithe Spirit at Hope Mill Theatre

The frightfully posh Charles Condomine is a novelist and socialite and he and his second wife Ruth are living quite happily until the eccentric medium Madame Arcacti is invited as a dinner guest for their amusement.

Things start to go bump in the night, when an uninvited guest in the guise of Charles’s dead ex wife – Elvira arrives.

As you sit and watch and giggle at the slamming doors the use of phrases such as “how dare you”, and cucumber sandwiches being tipped from plate to handbag by the medium who ain’t afraid of no ghosts, you begin to see similarities between this and Coward’s Private Lives. In that classic, two newlyweds are haunted by the ‘ghosts’ of their partner’s ex but they are on the balcony next door.

Bridgerton costumes with a ‘modern kick and flick’

The costumes are a tad Bridgerton, and at first glance they suit the costume drama. But look again and you have some gorgeous non gender specific colours that give the piece a modern kick and flick. Some of the contemporary music such as a classical version of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Ray Parker Jnr’s Ghostbusters also raise a chuckle.

The cast are all game and deliver the complex dialogue very well at certain points in the play. But there are moments when on the night I attended, quite a few cast members miss their cues and talk over one another. After a while, this does mean that gags miss their targets, as the punchlines is ill timed.

Peter Stone as Charles is clever and caddish, and he clearly revels in this role and the delicious dialogue. He is well matched by the brilliant Notombizdwa Ndlvu as his second wife Ruth, and she comes into her own in act two, as she wants her husband to stop with his Sixth Sense and she longs for the ghost of his ex to be busted.

Lucas Cheong Smith and Laura Littlewood

Lucas Cheong Smith and Laura Littlewood have a few funny scenes as a couple who comes to dinner and leave even more cynical than before they arrived. Riah Amelle as the maid Edith dials it down instead of up, and this works wonderfully well.

Kayleigh Hawkins adopts a Celia Johnson style accent but creates more havoc than Tom and Jerry and nails the malevolence of Elvira with ease. I have seen Madame Arcati played so over the top, with a turban, swishing across the stage from left to right that she becomes a caricature.

Karen Henthorn has brilliant comic timing

Karen Henthorn has brilliant comic timing, but she also gives the medium a childlike excitement and sense of wonder, every time she realises someone has returned to haunt these surroundings. She also knows how to land a gag with aplomb, as each one builds beautifully and you find yourself laughing naturally. Nothing here is forced.

The superb set design reflects films featuring a haunted house, and you half expect to see people winking at you through the picture frames. Hannah Ellis Ryan’s production has the period detail it needs and the farcical elements work very well in some of the scenes. But at the moment, it needs a little more time to breathe, as it just feels too long and needing more rehearsal time for everything to gel perfectly.

Once it has bedded in, what you will be left with is a production which respects the original material, but has enough playful twists and turns to keep you coming back for more, even if you have seen it many times before.

Tickets for Blithe Spirit at Hope Mill Theatre

Blithe Spirit is at the Hope Mill Theatre until 22^nd February and it can be booked here