Poor Charles Condomine. He just can’t shake haunting reminders of his past life. The self-centered author was the central character in Noël Coward’s 1941 comedy about ghosts, Blithe Spirit. (It was a record-breaking London hit, receiving more than 2,000 performances.) In the drawing-room comedy, Madame Arcati, a loony psychic, inadvertently conjures up Condomine’s late first wife, Elvira, a shameless party girl, much to the dismay of his no-nonsense, earthbound second wife, Ruth. In an unintended car accident, Ruth ends up dead, too — and she and Elvira must contend for Charles’ attention from “The Other Side.” Other characters can’t see the ghosts — who are plainly visible to the audience — and Charles begins to doubt his own sanity. His country home in Kent is left in shambles as he flees.
Such a vastly entertaining tale is too ripe for a single onstage work, so — with a commission from Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (and permission from Coward’s estate) — playwright Alice Scovell has crafted a sequel, Kindred Spirits. Its world premiere is the 2024 summer offering by Cincinnati’s classic theater company. Scovell recently penned The Rewards of Being Frank, a sequel to Oscar Wilde’s delirious 1895 comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, that premiered in 2023 by Cincy Shakes and subsequently traveled to New York City for an Off-Broadway run.
Building a sequel on the foundation of Coward’s classic comedy, which Cincy Shakes produced back in 2010, is no simple task. In a program interview, Scovell said, “Because Coward is a giant, I wanted to be respectful of the world he created, especially the rules regarding ghosts. I preserved four of Coward’s memorable characters, including the iconic Madame Arcati, and added three characters of my own. … Because not everyone knows Blithe Spirit, I wanted to create a work that could stand on its own.” She overlaid a feminist message on her script and created a seven-character play with six well-defined female characters.
In Kindred Spirits, 12 years have passed since Charles (Austin Tichenor) and his ghostly wives parted company. His time of singlehood is about to end as he returns to his country home, besotted with a flirtatious hatcheck girl, Avis (Connie Castanzo), an overt gold-digger. His plain-Jane writing partner, Claire (Tora Nogami Alexander), is there, too, helping him meet a publishing deadline. He is planning to sell the house — too many memories — and he’s waiting on his real estate agent, none other than Madame Arcati (Kelly Mengelkoch), who has stepped away from seances to a new career. But her loony sensitivity means she still perceives spiritual presences. The ghosts of Elvira (Courtney Lucien) and Ruth (Jasimine Bouldin) have rematerialized, certain that Charles is making a bad decision with Avis, young enough to be his daughter, so they conspire to derail his misguided romance. When Madame Arcati does her best to return the pair to the Other World, she inadvertently brings out another unwanted ghost, Charles’s domineering mother Gertrude (Christine Pedi). He’s truly outnumbered by strong women
Scovell has done a fine job of extending Coward’s characters. (He reportedly wrote Blithe Spirit in six days!). Charles remains an arrogant, egotistical male chauvinist, a bit past his prime and with more charm than insight. Tichenor, a Chicago theater veteran, plays him as a man who is increasingly made aware that he is definitely not in charge. Elvira and Ruth remain true to Coward’s creations, one impetuous and the other pragmatic. Lucien and Bouldin, both attired in gauzy blue gowns and pale makeup, have a great deal of fun with their scheming roles. As Madame Arcati, Mengelkoch makes the character even a bit daffier and clueless than she was in Blithe Spirit. Arcati can neither see nor hear the ghosts, so she’s constantly hunting for them — in the wrong places.
Scovell’s new characters keep the pot boiling. As single-minded Avis with her eyes on the wealthy husband prize, Castanzo is a standout as a crisply stylish, young woman on a single-minded mission, flipping back and forth between sweetly flirtatious and overtly rapacious. A whirling dervish of naïve but driven pursuit, she’s ultimately defeated by her ghostly nemeses. As Claire, Alexander evolves from a devoted, faithful editorial assistant to an assertive, clear-thinking professional, much to Charles’ surprise and dismay. And New York stage professional Pedi (also a SiriusXM host for the On Broadway channel) gives Gertrude Condomine the necessarily imperious demeanor to put her dithering son back on the right track. She too wears a gauzy blue gown to remind us of her ties to the Other Place. (Rainy Edwards is the production’s accomplished costume designer.)
Samantha Reno’s posh set is a character unto itself. As Arcati casts her errant spells, the posh drawing room’s lights flash, a howling wind blows the curtains and flings the glass garden doors open, and everything shakes and rattles before darkness falls (lighting design is by Watson). The production’s chaotic conclusion is an appropriate denouement to the comedy’s amusing action.
Director Brian Isaac Phillips has kept the story spinning and concise — the first act is 45 minutes long; the second act is 55. (Coward’s original three-act play took three hours.) He’s done a fine job at creating symmetrical stage pictures, often with the women encircling poor confused Charles. Phillips is responsible for the show’s frothy, witty ambiance, making for delightful summer entertainment.
Kindred Spirits, presented by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, continues through Aug. 18. More info: cincyshakes.com.
