What’s not to love about a play with zany characters and a fun plot?
At least that’s the way Debbie Fryer feels about Aiken Community Theatre’s upcoming production of “Blithe Spirit.”
“I love to make people laugh,” said Fryer, who plays the eccentric Madame Arcati in the Noel Coward play. The same role won Angela Lansbury, who died Oct. 11, a Tony in 2009.
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Written in 1941, the show is about a “fussy, cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine, who has remarried but finds himself haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife, Elvira,” according to the play’s description at Concordia Theatricals that licenses the play.
Playwright Noel Coward wrote the play in only six days and many feel like it’s his best work. In the 80 years since it first appeared on stage, it’s been on Broadway several times, had film adaptations made and been on the small screen.
This is the third time Fryer has been part of a production of “Blithe Spirit.”
Her first foray into the production was in the role of Charles’ first wife Elvira and she remembered thinking that one day she wanted to play the role of Madame Arcati. The second time was with the Edgefield Theatre Co. several years ago.
Although she’s played the role before, this production is vastly different than that other one, and that’s not a bad thing.
“Every director has their own vision,” she said.
Also the chemistry among the actors is different leading to a different stage experience.
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Aiken Community Theatre will present “Blithe Spirit” two consecutive weekends beginning Friday.
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27-29, and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Aiken Community Theatre, 126 Newberry St., S.W.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for senior citizens and students and $15 for children. Tickets are available at aikencommunitytheatre.org or by calling (803) 648-1438.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
