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The Stopfordian 2011–2012
BLITHE SPIRIT
A farce of a farce. What better way to describe this year’s Sixth
Form production of Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward.
Performing a play is never the easiest task. Managing a group
of 17-year-old teenagers is an even harder task, and
performing a play in just five days is near impossible. Despite
this, we took on the challenge.
As we all arrived at school on that bright sunny morning in
June to begin our first rehearsal, there was an air of quiet
confidence and optimism amongst the cast. This did not last
long. The day started badly, with Luke Howarth being the
only one of our two directors there to guide us. Despair
increased throughout the day as we began to realise that none
of us knew our lines. Fantastic. We still ended the day quietly
hopeful that everything would naturally come together.
The next day we were all pleased by the return of our second
director Abbie Jones. Our optimism renewed, we were eager
to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse to get it perfect. Still
something was missing; the character of Charles Condomine,
played by Tom Fawcett. After spending half of the morning
trying to contact him, with no success, we attempted to
rehearse the play without him; not the easiest task to achieve
when he features in around 90% of the play. The next
morning we received a message that Tom had had his tonsils
removed. No set, no costumes, no Tom, no memory of our
lines and only three days left until the performance. Then
Jamie Rahman arrived mouthing the words “guys, I’ve lost my
voice”. This was all just too much.
no hurry to remember it. As the audience took to their seats
(unaware that our director Abbie was hiding under the table
centre stage, or that director Luke was hiding behind an
armchair both prompting the cast) we knew we could do this.
Adrenaline kicked in and the play began. Despite his voice
issues earlier in the week, Jamie Rahman truly captured the
role of the eccentric psychic Madame Arcarti, not even
blinking an eye when makeup artist Ayoni Medagoda slapped
on the makeup. Elle Harper pulled off the part of Ruth
Condomine perfectly; sipping many a glass of wine (water) in
between lines to sooth her poor lost voice. Tom’s
performance as Charles Condomine was masterly and Alice
Carr’s portrayal of the jealous (and very much dead) Elvira
effectively spooked the audience. Sam Allport and Natalie
Clarke showed a true chemistry on stage in their parts of Dr
and Mrs Bradman. It was during the performance that we
truly made Blithe Spirit our own. Not knowing our lines no
longer mattered, with every member of the cast filling
awkward silences with witty comments and improvisation.
The audience laughed more at our blunders than the written
jokes and were by now very aware of the indiscreet and
frantic prompting from under the table and behind the sofa.
In spite of the week’s stresses, the play was a true success.
Not only did the audience enjoy it, but we did too. A huge
thanks to everyone involved; cast, crew and Mrs Moffatt. It
was the efforts made by all that made Blithe Spirit the true
success and farce it deserved to be.
Martha Watson (L4)
Day four was our first rehearsal day with all cast members
present but still there was only one way to describe it. A
disaster. It was then that the true abomination that was our
play hit home. Panic set in. We rushed around finding props,
muttering our lines in between scenes, hunting down missing
cast members. Then Mrs Moffatt arrived, bringing order to the
chaos. We worked and worked, trying our absolute best. We
left school that night prepared for the long night of learning
our lines.
Thursday. This was the day. The sun shone and we erected
our set in the Sixth Form Quad, ready for the performance
that evening. Everything was going well (undeterred by Elle
losing her voice); and then the heavens opened. We dashed
inside to avoid the thunderstorm that seemed to last forever,
watching the rain pour down onto the set we had so lovingly
created. At last, the rain stopped and we ventured outside to
discover what was left of our play. Two hours to go.
The next stage of preparation is a complete blur and I am in