Bry Kifolo’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1887 short story, “The Canterville Ghost” is an unexpectedly poignant tribute to the original comedy.

Bolstered by the direction of Allen Fitzpatrick, Key City Theatre-goers this weekend will no doubt enjoy a more finely-tuned production as both Fitzpatrick and Kifolo are steadily making this good play better.

David Natale’s turn as the ghost of Simon de Canterville is superb, at least in part because Kifolo only hints at his existence for most of the first act. The audience is demanding his presence by the time he’s given an opportunity at a soliloquy. His stage presence commands attention and thankfully, the Scottish brogue he affects is toned-down for the American ear.

And show himself he must, as the American family who purchased his haunted castle dismisses the idea of ghosts as something as old and tired as Wilde himself.

In Kifolo’s telling of this story, Mr. Otis (Robert Winstead) is bringing his teenage daughter (Haley Martin) and twin sons, Jefferson (Ry Armstrong) and Washington (Scott Bahlman), to a 500-year-old Tudor castle.

Winstead plays a sort-of king of the malaphor, a non-sensical a tribute to Wilde’s humor. He’s disconnected from his family but fortunately he stays connected to the world thanks to the hundred-room castle’s WiFi and 5G signals. Like Cat Steven’s baby, he’s forever talking on the phone.

Meanwhile his relentlessly obnoxious twins, an enjoyable annoyance, use everything from pillow fights to pea shooters to harass the castle’s housekeeper, Mrs. Umney, a role in which Heather Dudley-Nollette appears to channel the great Cloris Leachman, taking fainting to an art form.

Martin’s earnest depiction of a teenage girl, who has lost herself while caring for her widowed father and orphaned brothers, is as strong a presence as any of the fine actors on the Key City stage. She is the first to win the audience, which knows almost immediately that she is the hero of this story. When she delivers the elegy which will free the ghost of his immortal coils, Linda Dowdell’s haunting music stills the theatre.

There is more to like in this season-opener for Port Townsend’s public theatre. 

Jesse Joshua Watson’s set design is first rate from the suit of armor to the wainscoting to the three Murphy doors, which thanks to impeccable sound design of Taylor Thomas Marsh grumble like stone and always on cue when ghosts and mortals must move from stage to hidden passageway. Scenic artist Michelle Cesmat no doubt deserves some of the credit for the suspension of disbelief.

Complementing the sound, which hails from all quarters of the theatre, is the lighting design of Albert Mendez.

Adding to the merriment were Jolene Sunding and Margie McDonald who provided both serious and hilarious hair, makeup and special effects. The period and modern costumes of designer Corinne Adams were well-suited to the piece.

Friday’s sold-out audience was the first to learn that the recently remodeled theatre won an award for its rehabilitation. But the announcement, made by Artistic Director Denise Winter, should come as no surprise. The acoustics and atmosphere provide great compliment to Key City’s stagecraft. The facility’s 80-some seats are perhaps too comfortable as the curtain call failed to provide what I expected for this dynamic performance, a standing ovation.

The Canterville Ghost runs through October 29 at Key City Public Theatre.