I just got back from this, at the Drama Centre. Good Seats. We paid for the privilege of sitting 5 rows from the stage.
Well with a cast reading like a Who's Who of local theatre, I suppose Lim Kay Siu, Neo Swee Lin, Tan Kheng Hua, Selena Tan, Gerald Chew, Pam Oei and Celine Rosa Tan gave a good account of themselves. And they were directed by Singapore's own highly acclaimed
Madame Butterfly 'herself', Glen Goei. Plus this was staged by WILD R!CE, a theatre group artistically managed by Ivan Heng, who needs no introduction really. The
fella has almost reached
Doyen status in the local Arts circle.
Anyway Blithe Spirit is a 1941 play by British playwright Noel Coward. I'm too sleepy to give you a run-down of the synopsis so shall just lift it off W!LD RICE's webby...
Desperately seeking inspiration for his new book, Charles Koh (Lim Kay Siu) a novelist invites the flamboyant Madame Arcati (Selena Tan) to perform a séance in his Bukit Timah bungalow. But he gets much more than he bargains for when the mischievous ghost of his first wife Elvira (Tan Kheng Hua) materialises and proceeds to wreak havoc on his relationship with his current wife, Ruth (Neo Swee Lin).
Together with their highly strung maid Edith (Pam Oei) and their friends Dr. & Mrs. Quek (Gerald Chew, Celine Rosa Tan), the Kohs face the challenge of taming Elvira’s blithe spirit in a comedy that literally brings the house down!Excellent stuff from old birds Kay Siu and his wife Swee Lin. A walk in the park really with all those witty, typically British-but-modified-to-suit-Singlish, lines they had to shoot off. Kheng Hua milked her Elvira to the hilt with so much zany
pontianak seductiveness, it was a joy watching her prance from corner to corner. And what can I say about the Obese Oracle Selena. The Dim Sum Dolly was simply hilarious as Madame Arcati with a slight Parking Warden
makcik accent.
Overall an enjoyable evening out at the theatre. Pity the Drama Centre, itself a suitably cozy venue, had to be located within what we thought was a very new but sterile National Library.
And oh, they had a soundtrack taken from the Ole' Blue Eyes collection ;)
Labels: Theatre