Blithe Spirit: The Condomine Identity

Okay, I'm not quite done waxing poetic about my favorite theatrical experience to date. What made Blithe Spirit such a special show for me (apart from, you know, everything else I've already mentioned) was the character work I was able to put in to the show.

I'm not really much of an actor. No, shut up, I'm really not. All of my legitimate theatrical training comes from the improv comedy shows I do weekly. That's been fun and helpful, but improvisation is NOT the same thing as acting. Seriously, ask my director. She made me wear my suitcoat during rehearsals to suppress my "improv crazy."

Most improvised characters have very little thought put into them beforehand. Sometimes, you'll get a stock character that you revisit over and over again, but that's about all the development a character gets in improv. The play's a completely different kind of creature. Most actors spend a great deal of time thinking about how their character thinks, where they come from, and what motivates them. While I've certainly PLAYED other characters before, I've never worked quite as hard on them as I did on Blithe Spirit's Charles Condomine.

That's Charles, by the way. Not me.

For the most part, I don't "play a role" when I'm onstage - I generally just act like myself. As Coach Van Buren in Damn Yankees, I got a bit gruffer than usual. As Mortimer Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace, I acted a little more manic. As Lucentio in Taming of the Shrew, I was... actually, I was just as awkward about romance as I am in real life.

Charles is different. I made some very conscious decisions about how Charles acts, how he carries himself, how he sits and walks and talks. I doubt I succeeded in establishing a completely different persona - I heard on more than one occasion that I act a lot like Charles - but I still felt better about my "performance" as Charles than any role I've played before.

Actually, being told that I act like Charles kinda upset me, because if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that Charles Condomine is kind of a #@$$er. I tried to portray him as a bit of a snarky, lazy, effete fop, whereas I myself am... um... not going to think about this subject anymore.

During one rehearsal leading up to Blithe's opening night, we sat around for about an hour to just talk through our characters. I remember saying that one of the primary motivations behind everything Charles does is comfort. He just wants someone else to take care of him so he can go off and write his little books. As a result, he's CONSTANTLY taking advantage of and mooching off the women in his life, from living with his mother until well into adulthood to shacking up with poor lonely widows. He's a total user.

Charles doesn't believe in love - or, if he does, he doesn't believe he's capable of it. He likes the company of a woman, but not her companionship. When it came time for him to settle down - and that's a commitment he makes solely to keep up the appearance of propriety - Charles chose his first wife purely based on his physical appetites. As a result, Elvira was much younger than him, although she probably wasn't as doting and devoted to him as he would have liked.

After Elvira died, Charles tried to make a go of the single life again. That lasted maybe two years. During that time, he continued to court and woo women who he thought could provide for him. Frustrated that no one seemed willing, he met Ruth, a woman who he considers less physically attractive than Elvira but more his intellectual peer.

(I think that last bit's a detail that only comes out in my head. I don't think anyone watching the production would have understood how Charles distinguishes his wives from each other, especially since both the woman who played Elvira and the one who played Ruth look VERY similar - and attractive - without makeup.)

I often said that if Blithe Spirit were told from Ruth's point of view rather than Charles's, it would be a tragedy, not a comedy. Ruth - at least, as Kristin played her - was actually in love with Charles. As a result, she doesn't realize until after she dies that she's married to a man who doesn't really care about her.

Still, Charles quite likes his marriage with Ruth. She's a bit more in-command than Elvira ever was, even downright bossy, but Charles considers that a small price to pay for the comfort, security, and implied respectability that comes with marriage.

I say "implied," because Charles makes it ABUNDANTLY clear that fidelity is a one-way street, and it, like all other roads, lead to him. He's a massive egoist and something of a hedonist. He expects everyone else to provide him with entertainment or pleasure, but he gets hurt and offended at any sign of infidelity in those he believes are committed to him. However, he makes no emotional commitment to anyone else, and so he often feels free to "whore it up" with whoever he wishes.

In fact, there was a rather hilarious line flub during one of our performances that gave me a bit more insight to the character. During Charles's final monolog, he confesses to Elvira that, during their marriage, he had an affair with a woman named Paula Westlake. However, a combination of the late hour, difficult accent, and glass of apple juice I almost definitely choked on (again), a friend in the audience told me that she thought she heard me say Paul Westlake instead. While I have no doubt Charles loves him some ladies, I get the feeling he may have been snacking from both sides of the buffet line.

When the curtain falls on Blithe Spirit, the audience is left with the impression that Charles, once again single, is off for South America. Our director said she thought Charles was likely to remain a bachelor the rest of his days. I give him two years, if that. I imagine Charles shacks up soon after with some Guatemalan sugar momma until he sucks her savings completely up. He then hops back across the pond and settles down with some lonely widow, because that's just the kind of guy he is.

I don't think I've ever come to understand a character I've played quite like I "got" Charles. He's limp and whiny, but he's got a certain level of charm to him, as well. I grew to like the guy, for all his failings. I even got a bit defensive when other people commented on his despicable nature. I'm certainly glad Blithe Spirit is over and done with, but I'll be kinda sad when I don't slip into his dirty womanizing shoes again.