Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit ****************************************************************************************** * Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit ****************************************************************************************** On the 12th, 13th, and 21st of December 2014, students from the Faculty of Arts at Charles on a production of ‘Blithe Spirit’ by Noel Coward, directed by Eva Bilská, a PhD student a of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures. It was a very ambitious play to choose for a cast of non-English-native speakers – dialogu paced. However, they did not disappoint! Even the type of English accent was well mimicked Tamara Mergeščíková as Ruth); I have certainly seen worse versions by native English speak The play itself is about a married couple, Charles and Ruth. Charles is a writer, and for a character in his next book, they invite Madame Arcati, who claims to be a ‘conjurer’, to The married couple and their friends mock the concept, and clearly do not take Madame Arca However, she succeeds in conjuring up Charles’ ex-wife, whom only Charles can see! This is truly begins. Charles’ ex-wife, Elvira, is canny, manipulative and tactile. She very quickly gets contro while poor Ruth is left confused and distraught. Magdalena Hniličková was fantastically sa playful as Elvira. She held the audience so well it was difficult to empathise with the ot not being able to see her. Tamara Mergeščíková’s characterisation of Ruth was a perfect contrast to Elvira. She was s measured, and her sensibleness made Elvira seem all the more sensational and flighty. Alth enjoyed a few more flickers of a less-serious nature in Ruth, to make the character less t Charles, played by Mikuláš Mařík, interacted completely differently with the two women, wh in giving the audience a sense of the difference in the two marriages. However, his dialog little slow and hesitant at times: it’s essential that this play remains continuously snap drag. Madame Arcati, played by the director Eva Bilská, was exactly what one would hope for from this! Scatty and theatrical, yet believable; she always succeeded in amusing the audience. The most effective scenes were the ones with Madame Arcati, as well as Charles torn betwee - he portrayed the exasperation of the situation brilliantly. However I feel that staging more advantage of this dynamic. I would like to have seen Charles physically stuck between stage, one on each side of him; this would have added to the comedy and also helped with k pace of line delivery. Over all, this was an amusing, well-directed and executed version of ‘Blithe Spirit’. Just sensational as it should be, congratulations to the cast!