The pivotal role in Blithe Spirit is unarguably Madame Arcati, the muddling medium who sets in train a comical series of ghostly disasters.

It is safe in the hands of Alison Steadman who revels in the eccentric persona of the local medium invited to dinner by author Charles Condomine in the interests of research. There is much excitement and moaning and throwing herself around the room before she collapses in a trance.

Only sceptical Charles is spooked in every sense of the word when he alone realises that the spectre of his first wife Elvira in now in the house. Everyone else thinks the experiment was a failure.

Then the fun begins as Charles holds conversations with the mischievous ghost, and his current wife Ruth thinks he’s either being very cruel to her or has lost his marbles. And that’s only the beginning: Elvira has a devilish plan.

Robert Bathurst is perfectly cast as Charles, vain, a touch arrogant but a man for whom sympathy grows as he is besieged by wives living and dead.

Jodie Taibi’s performance as the odd housemaid, Edith, whose speed of operation is at-the-double or stop, is a sheer delight.

Hermione Norris as Ruth and Ruthie Henshall as Elvira have some classic Coward repartee but sadly they might both have been ghosts because some of the best lines were lost through inaudibility.

Norris was fine until the pace picked up and then the volume dropped. Henshall absolutely looked the part of the flighty, gamin ghost and her body language was superb. But she was inaudible for much of the time.

It was a shame for people who were seeing the play for the first time; Coward's lines are gems and not to be missed.

I can only think director Thea Sharrock, whose work is generally impeccable, was not standing towards the rear of the theatre on the first night – the evening before the press night – and was therefore unable to let her cast know they could not be heard.

It is still well worth seeing – hopefully someone will have said ‘speak up’ by now.