Spirit Haunts The Barn's 78th Love Song: Harmony in a Minor Key

Ross Valley Players’ Blithe Spirit is a period piece. It’s written by that most-English dramatist, Noel Coward. Its central characters, the Condomines, live in comfortable circumstances in 1937 England. They have a cook and a maid, dress for dinner, drink many cocktails and call each other “dahling.” They also have no visible means of support. Charles Condomine’s mysteries haven’t been selling as well as they used to, but Charles has devised a way to collect material for a new one. He and Ruth, his wife, will invite another couple over for dinner and bring in a medium to conduct a séance for the four of them. Charles needs a “professional charlatan” for his book and thinks the medium, Madame Arcati, will provide the model. (Ruth knows his devices and occasionally suspects that her husband often sets her up to be his “literary material” as well.)

The séance succeeds even better than expected, however, with Arcati waking from her trance with the triumphant sense that she might have “released something.” Indeed she has! Who is that elegant, silvery blonde, and why is no one but Charles surprised to see her? Can it be the ghost of Elvira, Charles’ first wife who died seven years ago?

Visible or not, Elvira’s presence begins to impact this well-ordered household. In short order, Dr. Bradman, the dinner guest, is summoned to make a house call on Charles, who has been “shouting irrelevancies” (at the unseen Elvira) and has sprained his arm in a mysterious fall. Edith, the maid, has also fallen and sustained a concussion. The cook’s given notice. And Ruth correctly suspects that Elvira, who is not at all as blithe as she might appear, is plotting something.

At this point, Blithe Spirit seems no more than a brisk, fluffy little entertainment, but this Noel Coward play grew to become the longest-running comedy in British theatre. Though it’s set in the 30’s, when much of Coward’s previous work was produced, Spirit was actually written in 1941, in the horrible depths of W.W. II. He wrote it, he later said, in just five days – in “an almost psychic gift” of speed, and he never once mentioned war. In RVP’s program notes, Director Robert Wilson says the play was “a morale builder” in its time and “a tonic to thousands.” (The Players presented the show previously in 1988.)

In its present production, Ron Severdia carries the role of the besieged Charles with fine comic timing. Robyn Wiley is the steely Ruth, who has had-it-up-to-here with Charles’ first wife, and Marianne Shine is the splendidly slithery Elvira. Hugh Campion portrays a coolly professional Dr. Bradman, with Kim Bromley as his wife. (Ms. Bromley deserves a bigger part.) Theresa Miller is the heavy-footed maid, Edith, and Lynn-Audrey Tijerina is the extravagant – and sometimes overstated -- Madame Arcati.

But theatre is a collaborative art, and many other talents contributed to this production, the first in RVP’s 78th season. Ken Rowland (there’s a familiar name) designed the vintage interior from his present home in Wales. Les Lizama’s lights, Bruce Viera’s sound, and Wally Fenns’ special effects show up dramatically in the final scene. And let’s linger a moment over Michael Berg’s costumes, stylish in this world and the next.

Blithe Spirit’s many breaks for scene changes and two intermissions extend it to almost three hours – a long time for youngsters. It’s a fine old ghost story, though, and a great, chilly warm-up for Halloween.

Blithe Spirit will play at The Barn Theatre in the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross through October 21. Performances run Thursdays through Sunday, with special prices for teens and seniors. For complete information and reservations, call 456-9555 or visit www.rossvalleyplayers.com.

The Marin Theatre Company has opened its 41st season with a West Coast premiere of Love Song by John Kolvenbach. The play had productions in Chicago and in London last year, but this will be only its second showing in the U.S. Director Jasson Minadakis had been actively seeking production rights to this new work for some time now.

Kolvenbach’s play is described as a “romantic comedy,” but that shorthand description isn’t entirely accurate. It soon becomes evident that both romance and comedy will have to come from characters who need a lot of therapy.

Eric Sinkkonen’s stylized set shows them in their habitats: an uber-grungy chair held together with duct tape, reminiscent of the piece that comforts Frasier’s dad, and a shadeless standing lamp with a single bulb. The room splits in two, with its other half on the opposite side of the stage. A stylish apartment with a New York skyline occupies the middle.

Love Song opens in near-darkness, with the lone seated figure of a young man sitting silently, contemplating the single light. When the bulb begins to buzz, he gets up to attend to it and it flashes. Then, in the apartment, a man and woman are engaged in conversational lobs fueled by alcohol. (Imagine an ill-natured Nick and Nora.) Their talk reveals that the woman, Joan, has just fired another of her interns, and Harry, her husband, is sympathetic to the lives of interns and disagrees, as always. Neither interrupts this exchange when the young man, Beane, enters without knocking. Beane does this all the time. He’s Joan’s brother.

Harry brings out a magazine quiz he wants to administer to Beane. It’s a personality test, but Beane flunks it, answering “Happy” too often. At this point, the comedy part of the play has established itself. The audience has laughed often, and Beane is recognized as a lovable eccentric. (Darren Bridgett is just wonderful in this part.)

But now the romance begins. Beane surprises a burglar in his shabby living space, a punkish young woman named Molly (Jody Flader) who’s in the process of bagging up his minimal possessions and criticizing what she finds: “Why don’t you have pictures? A diary? A pen? Everyone likes pens.” And Beane accepts both the theft and her judgments because he is smitten.

Joan notices the difference in her brother right away. When she joins him for lunch and brings up the prospect of getting him a “personal assistant,” Beane hardly notices. He’s too caught up in the wonder of his turkey club sandwich. Joan suspects drugs and falls into a pattern of threats: “I will leap over this table . . . I will drag you to a pharmacist. . . I swear, I’ll tell Mom!”

However, some of her brother’s newfound ebullience rubs off on Joan and then on Harry. In a charming scene, the two of them (Julia Brothers and Steve Irish) call in excuses to their places of work so they can take the day off to make love. The clumsiness of their phone calls shows what a rare occasion this is.

However, Beane’s romance with Molly, the “liberator”is illusory in more ways than one; it will have no happy endings. He must either be seduced by it or escape to an uncertain alternative. At its conclusion, then, Love Song is neither a romance nor a comedy. It is, however, an engaging ninety minutes of fine acting and a provocative start for the new season.

Love Song will be performed at the Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley through September 30. Shows are every night but Monday, with matinees on Sundays and on Saturday, the 29th. Discounts are available for seniors and students.

For complete information, schedules, and ticket reservations, call 388-5208 or see the website.