BLITHE SPIRIT

Mr. Russell chose the witty British farce Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward for the last play of the year. Our accents had to be very,very British and the play must be performed at lightning speed.  Now this was Macon, Georgia where if you asked to borrow a pin your friend would ask, "A safety pin or a fountain pin?" No one spoke at lightning speed. So a huge challenge lay before us.

Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati

During a seance performed by a daffy
medium, Madame Arcati,
the leading man's dead
wife, Elvira, appears.
Witty chaos ensues. My beautiful friend Kathy played Elvira in silver makeup and a flowing lavender gown (our idea of what a spirit from beyond would wear).  I played Madame Arcati, an absolutely wonderful role that many famous character actresses have played. At some point Charles' present wife also departs this world and reappears in full silver makeup.  It is a delightfully silly play that the whole cast loved doing.

During the day we sewed costumes, built sets,
found props and, oh, attended some classes. My
roommate Linda and I would dash from the theatre over to the dining room where we served meals to all our friends. However, the waitresses ate first which meant we devoured as much of that good Southern cooking as we wanted. Why we didn't all weigh 200 pounds I do not know. After all the food and dishes had been cleared away, we girls had to reset the tables with real linens and the napkins had to be folded a certain way.(On Sundays the linens were pink.) Then we dashed to rehearsals at 7 P.M., worked until 10 and then repaired to Shoney's Big Boy as we were starving.  Linda and I never had any money to spare, but the drama majors were tightly bonded and we did not go hungry. We had to sign in at the dorm by 11 and then we began our homework.  How we had the energy for this frenetic lifestyle I do not know, but we were having a wonderful time.  Blithe Spirit played for two nights to laughter and applause from our generous audiences.  Then it was all over.  We began to dismantle the sets and put away the costumes. I felt an enormous letdown; we all did.

I ran into Mr. Russell in the stairwell.  We were both subdued as the sense of letdown was mutual.  The year was almost over. I wondered what he would do this summer. I knew I couldn't go home.  Wesleyan gave me a sense of purpose; the school was my anchor, but now I felt at loose ends, rootless, empty.  Tears came to my eyes.

"A little of the magic has worn off, hasn't it?" he said with a wistful smile. I nodded.

And then we just stood there, looking at each other for a while but saying nothing.