Blithe Spirit - Harold Pinter Theatre

Yes...good fun! Not amazing...JS being very old lady JS...

Was thinking of booking at the Duke of York's last night but the only less expensive tickets are in the Upper Circle which I hear from Theatre Monkey struggle with leg room. I might also take a nice trip out to Richmond as I can't justify big money for this one, although I haven't looked at the prices so they may be similar!

Booked this for March as I missed the one with Angela Lansbury a few years ago. Not the same, but looking forward to it.

We did the same..Loved Vanya! JD was so funny in her Snow White outfit..!

Was also at Richmond tonight.

Jennifer Saunders rules the stage and there is a slight vacuum when she is off stage but enjoyable nonetheless and special mention must be made of Rose Wardlaw as the maid whose comedic flair adds to any scene she is in.

Dr Tom glad you found Richmond Theatre to your liking, next time maybe make a day of it and check out the Orange Tree Theatre and in the summer chill out on the Green beforehand or take a walk along the river, I will weather permitting sometimes get off at Kew and walk the 2 mile riverside path to Richmond.

Saw the matinée, and agree that this is an excellent "Blithe Spirit," which milks all the laughs there are (I wish there were more), but also works as a gripping narrative.

Some spoilers. . .

One of Charles Condomine's ex-wive's suggests at one point that he has a "seedy grandeur" to him. In previous productions I've seen, that quality has been presented as superciliousness, which has irritated me, and caused me to feel the play is misogynist.

For me, the great strength of this production is that Geoffrey Streatfeild's Charles is neither seedy, grand nor supercilious. He is instead, witty, harried and thoroughly empathetic. He is like a character in a Western trying to dodge bullets flying in all directions, and a wonderful grounded centre for a comedy.

His wives, Lisa Dillon and Emma Naomi are also brilliantly cast, in that they are the opposite of each other, such that you believe each can see in the other the adequacies they fear they may themselves not possess. Thus, Dillon is thoughtful where Naomi is careless; Dillon is nervy where Naomi is icy; Dillon is ruffled where Naomi is stately. As a consequence, when they clash, both are funny.

With the central triangle working in unusually harmonised dramatic and comedic concert, the supporting ensemble really fly.

Jennifer Saunders at once milks solid laughs from her scattily unpredictable approximation of a posh headmistress, as well as convincing as a medium who means business, without ever hogging the limelight to the detriment of the drama.

Lucy Robinson and Simon Coates, in their role as guests and witnesses, effectively act as avatars for the audience, with Robinson infectiously enthusiastic and Coates infectiously unenthusiastic.

And Rose Wardlaw does indeed follow Patsy Ferran into making the small role of the maid a laugh riot, with her own unique comic mannerisms, and her ability to squeeze the comic juices hard, and then later, still harder, such that she gets the longest and loudest laugh of the show.

Overall, I don't rate this as Coward's best play, for overdoing exposition when we would rather be laughing, but this is the best and funniest production of this show I've seen.

4 stars from me.

I’ve never been to Richmond before. I’m very close to Vauxhall. Do I need to go on South Western rail site and book anytime return ticket or can I just use Oyster card? Does this include the express train?
The station looks fairly close to theatre. Where would you recommend an early dinner?

I enjoyed this but didn't love it, it wasn't a patch on the Lansbury version of a few years ago nor the Penelope Keith before that. Miles better than Alison Steadman's attempt though.

I thought Saunders might just give us a panto turn but she mostly avoids that and lets the character come through and provides most of the laughs and yes it sags when she isn't around in a way that the last production didn't.

Geoffrey Streatfeild and Lisa Dillon are fine though not as effective as Charles Edwards & Janie Dee were but Emma Naomi is a real letdown, it's hard to see what Charles saw in her and she wafts around the stage to little impact. Sorry to hark on about the last production again but Jemima Rooper absolutely nailed the character last time and emphasised her seductiveness while Naomi just seems to be in a constant bad mood.

Rose Wardlaw was very good as the maid, in some ways more memorable than Patsy Ferran as there was a lack of laughs elsewhere and Lucy Robinson really stood out for me, a delightful performance as Mrs Bradman.

Not convinced by the slightly different end to usual though, don't think it really added anything.

Saw it tonight.

Pleasant, entertaining, funny, but not earth-shattering - and while it IS funny, I've seen the play be funnier (I remember a wonderful production at the Royal Exchange with Susie Blake as Madame Arcati). Jennifer Saunders is giving exactly the performance I expected her to give in the role; she's great fun and worth what I paid for the ticket, but she's also rather predictable. It's all very safe, and all very nice, and the spark that can make this play so much more than that isn't quite there. Nice set, nice curtain, nice lighting, decent work from nearly all the rest of the cast, but Emma Naomi's Elvira is so wooden I think I got splinters.

If you're looking for a (relative) bargain, C22 in the dress circle is excellent value - off to the side, sold as restricted view, yes it's a bit restricted but there's no action you can't see and it's much cheaper than the seats further in.

I wonder if Good and The Watsons will come back to the Pinter eventually.

(Baz has tweeted that he won't be tweeting much tonight as it's a Bank Holiday!)