Am I the only one who remembers when young people wanted to be seen as grown up and smooth and sophisticated? There may be no better examples of it on the stage than the plays of Noel Coward. Coward's dialogue is crisp and snappy, with only an occasional languid pause, probably to wait for laughs from those keeping a sharp ear out.
Right now, St. Louis Actors' Studio presents "Blithe Spirit" from Coward. The tale of Charles Condomine, a remarried widower and his second wife Ruth seems to be at first a drawing room comedy out of the late Thirties. (The play opened in London in June 1941 during the blitz.) Another couple are coming to dinner. The new maid is clumsy. There are quite a lot of dry martinis being consumed and cigarettes (herbal ones, for those allergic) waved about. Oh, and there's a third guest, who, not by accident, is, she says, a medium.
Michael James Reed and Lee Anne Mathews as the hosts work well together, spouses who tease each other – although we begin to realize she's just a tad insecure. Andra Harkins, a slightly dotty dinner guest, is the wife of stolid-but-solid Steve Isom, the village GP, the other man at the dinner table. Dotty, however, doesn't begin to describe Nancy Lewis as Madame Arcati, the medium. Is she the real thing or a fake? Maybe not, because, in a dramatic entrance ,Elvira, Charles' late first wife, Nancy Bell, arrives with a swirl of mist and glamor.
So many years after its first production (and what an escape this must have been during World War II in London), all the Coward characters are caricatures to one degree or another, so allow yourself to sit back and enjoy Lewis' declaiming and the gait of Edith, Jennifer Theby-Quinn, the maid (clearly a precursor to the Department of Silly Walks from Monty Python). Director Bobby Miller, a man who knows his comedy, doesn't try to present this as realistic; it's all a wild, glam fantasy. He's aided in his efforts by Patrick Huber's set, which manages to give more size to a small stage, and the costumes of Michele Friedman Siler, lush and covetable.
It's a champagne cocktail, full of witty banter and a lovely escape from the everyday world. Very funny and very fun.
Blithe Spirit
St. Louis Actors' Studio
The Gaslight Theater
through December 21
314-458-2978