SOMETHING WILD : Minneapolis’ Children’s Theatre Company Unleashes ‘The Canterville Ghost’ in Irvine

At 300-something, he’s no Patrick Swayze. But this Ghost still makes a definite impression on the ladies.

“The Canterville Ghost,” Oscar Wilde’s tale of a spectral power struggle between an Old World ghost and a family of obstinately unflappable Americans, comes to the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Saturday, in two shows by the Minneapolis-based Children’s Theatre Company. The performances are suitable for children as young as 5.

Written in 1887, shortly after Wilde’s lecture tour of the United States, “The Canterville Ghost” brings the author’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek view of American common sense to life via the Otis family, a thoroughly practical clan that responds to the ghost’s midnight spooks with an arsenal of helpful hints and practical jokes. All, that is, except Virginia, the teen-age daughter who ultimately helps put the whole issue--and the ghost’s tortured soul--to rest.

According to CTC press relations manager Chris Hewitt, it is the ghost’s relationship with Virginia and her little brothers, Chip and Charles, that makes the show accessible to young audiences.

“The ghost really enters the family’s consciousness through the children,” Hewitt explained in a phone interview from CTC’s Minneapolis headquarters. “The younger boys terrorize the ghost, but it’s Virginia who gets to the heart of the matter.

“I think the thing with Virginia is because she’s a teen-ager, she’s going through changes, so she’s more receptive to something out of the ordinary. She’s willing to take the time to hear the ghost’s story, which is pretty unhappy.”

According to Wilde’s original text, the whole problem began in the 16th Century, when Sir Simon de Canterville committed the dastardly deed that destined his spirit to eternal turmoil. As he explains to Virginia, “My wife was very plain, never had my ruffs (collars) properly starched, and knew nothing about cookery.” Piqued, he did away with her in the sitting room of Canterville Chase, the family manor house that the Otises now occupy.

To teach him the error of his ways, the dead woman’s brothers locked him up in the house, where he promptly starved to death. His troubled spirit then set to work scaring the bejabbers out of generations of Canterville women (and men). According to legend, the only way to break the reign of terror was for the ghost to earn the pure love of a child.

Although there are plenty of humorous pokes at the foibles of Americans and Brits sprinkled throughout the tale, “The Canterville Ghost,” which was written early in the author’s career, reflects a friendlier side of Wilde than audiences generally see.

In her CTC adaptation, playwright Marisha Chamberlain has even woven Wilde himself into the script as narrator. “(The audience) does hear some of his trademark cynicism right off the bat, but that gives us a sense of who he was,” said Hewitt, adding that he hopes the play will inspire older children to read more of Wilde’s works.

“I think the junior high school-age student will appreciate the show for the verbal humor and the language,” said Hewitt, adding that “the younger ones like the spooky stuff.”

Sets and costumes used in CTC shows are often considered elaborate by children’s touring company standards, and the visual elements of “Ghost” continue that tradition while hinting at the show’s “off-kilter” story line, said Hewitt.

“The manor house has lots of moving parts, mysterious bloodstains, all that kind of thing.” he explained. “There are cartoonish, exaggerated angles and lots of secret passageways and twists and turns. The longer you look at it, the more you realize it’s all a little off.”

“The Canterville Ghost,” directed by Jon Cranney, features 12 children and adults from the Minneapolis-St. Paul community. (Children’s roles are double cast, with the young actors alternating every two weeks to minimize the disruption of their schooling.) The show is the sixth that CTC, which labels itself as the largest American professional theater company for children and families, has toured in as many years. Last January, CTC’s “Pippi Longstocking” played to near-capacity audiences at the Barclay.

In addition, the company, which also produces nine family-oriented shows in Minneapolis and St. Paul each season, has participated in two international theatrical exchange programs. In 1991, a CTC creative team led actors of Shanghai’s Children’s Art Theatre in a production of Dr. Seuss’ “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbin” in Mandarin; in 1990, another team, led by “Ghost” director Cranney, mounted a production of “Tom Sawyer” with members of the Children’s Theatre of Moscow.

What: Children’s Theatre Company presents “The Canterville Ghost.”

When: Saturday, Jan. 25, at 2 and 7 p.m.

Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine.

Whereabouts: On the UC Irvine campus at the corner of Campus Drive and Bridge Road, across from the Irvine Marketplace.

Wherewithal: $11 to $14.

Where to call: (714) 854-4646.