Theatre Review - Blithe Spirit

For a play that was written in 1941, the themes of noveau riche eccentricity, petty jealousy and marriage are very current in the black comedy by Noel Coward, especially when translated into the local context as well as Wild Rice’s production was.

Harnessing the talents of some of the best known names in the local theatre scene, Blithe Spirit was as entertaining for the wit of the original script as it was for the localization of names, places, media and culture.

Blithe Spirit is about a writer, Charles Koh (Lim Kay Siu) who, seeking material for his new book, invites a medium, Mdm Arcati (Selena Tan) into his house to conduct a séance. The séance summons his ex-wife Elvira (Tan Kheng Hua) from the other side and the mayhem that issues between her and his current wife Ruth (Neo Swee Lin) is what makes up the bulk of the play.

A lot of the reason why this play worked is because of the stellar cast. Few people would have been able to give the difficult words and phrases in the script a natural flow like Lim Kay Siu and Neo Swee Lin. They brought upper class elegance to the performance, while still maintaining their Singaporean-ness, without the need to break into a ridiculous pseudo-British accent.

And little Pam Oei, as the Filipino maid Edith, invoked laughter every time she was on stage, regardless of whether she said anything or not, although her rendition of “Unporgetable” was priceless.

Mdm Arcati’s partiality to cucumber sandwiches and strange use of idioms helped identify her as working class with aspirations to “atas-ness” and won the empathy of the Singaporean heartlanders (i.e. me)

The local references not only served to bring home this play, which was written during WWII to cheer up the British. It also took loving jibes at issues close to our hearts like the quality of the local press and our ongoing love-hate relationship with maids. My favourite line was this

Charles: Ah, reading the Straits Times, I see. Anything interesting?
Ruth: (snaps) Don’t be ridiculous, Charles!

In the same scene, Charles is seen being friendly to Edith, enquiring if she has had breakfast and Ruth quips,” Don’t be over familiar with the servants, Charles. It confuses them.”

There were a couple of gaffes too. The follow spot guy just couldn’t keep up with Tan Kheng Hua and there were times when the light trailed behind her like a ghostly train. Swee Lin sometimes forgot that she was not supposed to see the apparition and stared dead into Kheng Hua’s eyes before she remembered who she was. And the most obvious one was poor Lim Kay Siu, tripping on a piece of debris and falling (rather gracefully) when coming up for his curtain call. The audience audibly sucked their breath in and slowly released it as he waved and assured us of his wholesomeness.

Blithe Spirit was a black comedy which would have left a local audience high and dry with its extreme British verbosity and dry wit, if not for the wonderful adaptation, clever pacing and occasional physical humour thrown in by the cast and the Wild Rice team of writers. Glen Goei drew out his cast all that they were able to give, and that is to his credit.

Watch Blithe Spirit with the heart of an English educated Singaporean, and you will enjoy it. Go expecting Noel Coward’s original masterpiece and you may be disappointed.

So, what do you do?

I find that when people ask me this question, I tend to go into in depth detail about the things that I do in my office during working hours. The success of projects, the annoying idiosyncracies of colleagues, the frustration of justifying ideas to the management and of course all the mundane budgets and reports.

But this is just what I do to put bread on the table and provide my family with shelter against the elements. What I actually do on a day to day basis that have meaning, fulfillment and joy, usually have nothing to do with what takes place between 9-6 , Monday to Friday.

So the next time someone asks me what I do, this will be my answer.

1) I worship an awesome and mighty God, who provides everything I need, and his Son Jesus Christ, who took my sins in exchange for His Life.

2) I raise a wonderful boy, who amazes me everyday with his talents and blesses me with his laughter.

3) I relish and maintain close relationships with the ones I love, koffeeklatsching, movie watching or just hanging. I try and make my presence felt in their lives.

4) I am writing a book - historic fiction, in a sense, a biograpy in another. If you really want to know what it's about email me, cos I don't want to see it on Oprah's Book Club with someone else's name on it. :-)

5) I transcribe sermons for my church, so that future generations will remember the foundations that God provided us. Currently they use the transcripts for daily devotion emails, but I like to think what I do has far reaching impacts.

6) I dance. I have completed Salsa, and had learned Indian dance in my childhood. Now I am moving on to the Charleston. I am learning that from Sinclair Ang, a good friend, great dancer and wonderful human being. I don't dance to exercise, or lose weight, as people insist of believing, but to express the joy in my heart with my body.

7) I do anything associated with theatre. Free or paid, I am there. I will watch, build sets, write scripts, block, act, cue sound or stage manage. Free or paid. It's the only thing I will quit my 9-6 job for.


There. That's what I do. A little long winded, but now you know.

Unless of course, they ask me what I do for a living. Then I have to say:-

(droning voice) I am hired to corporately and commercially market the services of a local SME that resell computer supplies and hardware.

Now which answer do you prefer?