A Trip to Blithe Spirit
by Tanya

On the 2nd August I managed to make it to see Steven in
Blithe Spirit at the Chichester Festival Theatre.  I didn't
really know what to expect, as I know more about Noel
Coward's life than his work, which is not saying much. 
Also after having been only to theatre in the West End
recently, (OK so it was 4 times to see the same show, By
Jeeves<g>)  I had forgotten how different Chichester
Festival theatre is.

The first surprise on arriving was as I was walking from the
car park.  I was in a daydream as usual, and suddenly
became aware of someone very tall and thin walking about
20 feet in front of me, and even from the rear looking
strangely familiar.  Yep it was Steven, wearing white
trousers and a dark, olive green polo shirt.  Carol, I suppose
at this point I should give a 'bald spot report' as I had a
good look walking behind him.  It looks far less
pronounced at the moment than it did at By Jeeves, as his
hair is a little bit longer, and looked pretty good.  I did think
of trying to catch up at this point and get his autograph, but
as I didn't have anything for him to put his mark to at this
point, and he was a little too far ahead for me to catch up
without looking like I was about to mug him, I reluctantly
decided against it.  As he turned to go to the stage door I
did get a quick glimpse of his face, and I am saddened to
say that his moustache from the pictures you have seen is
not a false one.  In the pictures I didn't find it too bad, but
without his hair slicked back, and out of character, it looked
pretty dreadful at a quick glance.

After this little bit of adrenaline rush I then made it into the
theatre, which was when I realised that the Summer
Festival at this theatre is considered quite an event by some
people.  To one side the theatre has some spacious lawns,
and there were a number of people eating evening picnics
and drinking champagne from hampers on the lawn.  Some
gentlemen had gone so far as to be wearing straw boaters
and pale summer suits, it almost looked like a lost era, one
very much in keeping with the period of the play though.  It
was then I realised how most people were dressed smartly,
unlike London theatres where jeans are perfectly OK most
of the time.

This theatre is also different in its layout to many theatres, it
is an octagonal with I suppose what you could call an
'apron stage'.  Although it was the penultimate performance,
it didn't have an empty seat in the house (about 1500), and
even a week before if you had wanted to book seats for 2
people you would not have been able to sit together.  I
didn't have the best seat but it wasn't bad, slightly off to one
side, and second row, only about 7-8 feet from the edge of
the stage.

Now on to the play itself.  Basically for those who don't
know what it is about (like me before I went, philistine that
I am), it is about a man, Charles, played by Steven, and his
2 wives.  One has been dead 7 years after a heart attack, and
he has been married to his second for 5 years.  He is a
novelist, and decides for research purposes to invite a
medium to do a seance. He, his 2nd  wife, and  the guests
are mostly sceptics and just expect to have a bit of fun, and
Charles hopes to pick up some of the 'tricks of the trade'.
Strange things happen at the seance though, and during it
Charles swears he could hear his first wife.  Later on she
appears to him, but only he can see and hear her.  His first
wife then starts to cause a little light mayhem, but
eventually it turns a bit more sinister, resulting in the
murder of the wrong person.

It was a lovely, gently amusing play.  Steven looked much
better with the moustache in character, than out.  His role
starts with him being a reasonably cheerful, calm, witty
person, but as the events unravel he becomes more and
more frustrated and frantic, trying initially to convince his
2nd wife he is not going mad, and then to keep the peace
between his two wives and sorting out the mess.  Steven
looked wonderful most of the way through.  Most of the
time he was in evening dress, in which he looks great, but
in one scene during the day he wore a dreadful tank top
with sort of beige trousers.  I don't like this look in general,
and it did nothing for him.  Some of the bits I enjoyed most
was the couple of times when he sat on the edge of the
stage on this sort of bench thing, straight in front of me
(only about 8 feet away remember :-) )  I got a lovely view
of him in profile, and then as he turned away slightly  my
imagination ran away with me thinking about the nape of
his neck and ear lobe, so don't ask me what was going on in
the play at that point <g>

I very briefly saw Steven after the play also, but
unfortunately was not close enough to get to speak to him
before he disappeared into the members only bar. Oh well
never mind,  I'll just have to make more of an effort to catch
him in his next production.  I really had a wonderful time,
most of all because Steven was in it and I could drool over
him for 2 1/2 hrs, but also because the play was lovely.