Review: Blithe Spirit, Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, July 3

Having recently re-watched the wonderful 1945 film of the same name, it was with no small amount of excitement that I took my seat for the opening night of Blithe Spirit at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.

The classic Noel Coward comedy has all of his trademark wit and sees novelist Charles Condomine learn the hard way that it's dangerous to mess with the occult, as his seance accidentally conjures up the spirit of his first wife - much to the annoyance of his second wife.

Nic Metcalf is great as Charles although I felt he was missing just a little of Coward's customary flippancy in his delivery, while the rather more surprising casting of Jeremy Roberts as eccentric medium, Madame Arcati, takes some getting used to but he throws himself into the role, sometimes quite literally.

There were a few first night hiccups, including a door which kept opening by itself (I thought a clever nod to the subject matter but apparently not), nevertheless an entertaining show as always from the Bury St Edmunds Operatic and Dramatic Society.