SEVERAL times a year I am privileged to get the opportunity to review local amateur groups' productions at the Thameside Theatre.

It's always a great and meaningful experience to visit this much-loved venue on Orsett Road in Grays, but there's always an element of fear and trepidation. What if it's not very good?

To ensure the veracity of a review, you have to be truthful. Which is why I was absolutely delighted to leave the theatre this evening (Friday, 27 September), with a smile on my face, a lightness in my step and a glow in my soul.

Once against Thurrock Courts Players delivered! Their production of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit was a joy to behold.

Make no mistake, this a difficult production to stage. With a small cast, some intense dialogue and an ever-present requirement for perfect timing, there's little leeway for mistakes.

It wasn't quite Courts' finest hour, the bar is set very high these days, but it was a delight – indeed a minor triumph.

Director Josh Handley, taking the helm at the Thameside for the first time, pitched his cast perfectly and arranged staging, sound and light with a very skilful hand. He should be proud of this debut effort.

The story may not be so familiar these days, but to aficionados of both stage and screen, this is a venerable piece from the pen of a real genius and unparalleled wordsmith. Coward wrote his 'improbable farce' and first produced it on a war-torn London stage in 1941. It truly stands the test of time and still infrequently pops up in the West End, on Broadway and on tour.

There are some very big shoes to follow for the Courts cast that trod the Thameside boards this week. But they rarely put a foot wrong.

The standout performer for me was Codie Gray. Her portrayal of beleaguered second wife Ruth Condomine was word perfect with a sublime emotional pitch. Her performance was right out of the top drawer and I struggle to recall seeing an amateur putting in such a professional performance. Aside from her amazing diction and timing, her face portrayed astonishing levels of emotion. She was spellbinding.

Stage husband Michael Southgate was equally engaging as the play's central character and somewhat anti-hero Charles Condomine and as the piece progressed, he gathered pace and confidence with every moment centre stage. If ever there was a man portrayed at his bamboozled, wit's end, this was it.

First wife and the spectral and haunting Elvira was consummately well played by Sophie Nash, who clearly loved every moment of her beguiling role.

Knitting the plot together is 'Madame Arcati' – a character played previously by such huge stage luminaries as Margaret Rutherford, Angela Lansbury, Judi Dench and latterly Jennifer Saunders. Torie Grayling took on the challenge and donned the mantle of the wildly eccentric but strangely down to earth, sandwich-loving medium whose flirtation with the afterlife unleashes mayhem. She was tremendously impressive.

Supplementing the four main characters are Jill Snelling, once more delighting a Thameside audience as the silly and excitable Violet Bradman, Trevor Povey as the kind, supportive but sceptical Dr George Bradman and there has to be a special word for Lily Edmeads who made her stage debut as bumbling Edith the maid and genuinely won the hearts of the audience as she punctuated the plot with seriously well-delivered laughter-lines.

Chalk this one up as another success for the Players.

Next time out they are back in Allo Allo mode, with the second stanza of a show we were privileged to enjoy in February. They will return a year later with 'The Camembert Caper'.