BRIGIT SAINT BRIGIT THEATRE CO.
Gaslight
by Patrick Hamilton, A New Version by Steven Dietz
Directed by Cathy MW Kurz
October 30 - November 15
A psychological thriller adapted by Steven Dietz from Patrick Hamilton’s hit 1939 play (which inspired the 1944 film starring Ingrid Bergman), Gaslight thrillingly delves into the horrors of psychological abuse, where the truth is fickle for characters and audience alike. With undertones of Sherlock Holmes and film noir, it’s a story replete with mystery, double-crosses and the injustice of emotional abuse.
THE PLAY
"Bella Manningham, once a beauty but now pallid and withdrawn, suffers from what she believes are the early stages of insanity, a disease from which her mother died. Her husband, Jack Manningham, struggles to help her, and spends his evenings out on the town in order to cope. Or so he makes her believe.
Bella evidently misplaces items from time to time, some of which are gifts from her husband. Because she cannot remember moving or misplacing these items, she thinks she is going crazy. It becomes clear, however, that her husband is behind these petty inconsistencies in order to slowly drive her insane and torture her into believing they are her fault.
But what of the dimming lights and footsteps heard within the house while her husband is away? Are these simply a figment of her delusional mind?
Then late one evening, a stranger comes to the house while Jack is out and explains he is there to help Mrs. Manningham. Who is this man and what secrets does he know? Why is Jack tormenting his wife? Is Bella truly going mad? This Victorian thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat as you discover the mysteries of the Manningham home.”
-Utah Shakespeare Festival
THE HISTORY
Written by novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton (author of Rope). Premiered in 1938 in London as Gas Light, it transferred to Broadway in December, 1941—title was changed to Angel Street. It ran for four years, and remains one of the longest-running non-musicals in Broadway history at 1,295 performances. It wasn't until sometime in the early 2000s that the title was changed to Gaslight (one word).
Under the title Gaslight, the play was adapted to a British film in 1940, but Americans will be more familiar with the 1944 American version, nominated for seven Academy Awards, featuring Ingrid Bergman who won for Best Actress and an 18-yr-old Angela Lansbury in her first film, playing a scheming maidservant. The film was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Steven Dietz received permission from Patrick Hamilton's estate to adapt the play. The “adaptation” first appeared at Cincinnati Shakespeare in 2023. It keeps the story in its Victorian period and does not change the plot or characters. It simply expands some of the characters and slightly condenses a few speeches.
TRIVIA
The word “gaslighting” that we use today—named 2022's word of the year by Merriam-Webster—derives from this play.
THE REVIEWS
“Although Patrick Hamilton writes his thrillers within a small compass, he writes them with infinite craft and dexterity. Angel Street [Gaslight] . . . sent a chill up the spine in the Golden Theatre last evening, it comes off the top part of the theatre's top shelf. . . . filling the theater with an ominous and terrifying illusion."
~ Brooks Atkinson, NYT (1938)
"Not since Hellzapoppin had the crowd out front participated so heartily".
~Robert Pollak, Chicago Tribune (1942)
Gaslight "established the blueprint for a kind of domestic-peril thriller... Mr. Hamilton believed our most dangerous enemies were always in the room with us . . . a claustrophobic mood.”
~Ginia Bellafante, NYT (2007)
