Gaslight

This ‘classic’ play by Patrick Hamilton seems to have been out of fashion for some time but is very worthy of a revival with the excellent and well written script and a story to hold the audience attention.

Set in Victorian times, the story is still relevant today sadly. The proceeds from the raffle will be donated to the charity Leeway which supports Domestic Violence and Abuse Services in Norfolk.

The set design from Gillian Davidson gave us a typical Victorian parlour complete with fireplace and ornaments, furniture, and pictures. And of course the gas lamps, such a vital part of the plot, the lighting well managed for the atmosphere. The costumes appropriate for the period. And the sound excellent with the new mikes, every word heard in this complex script.

On the face of it, John King as Mr Manningham seems a normal and fairly mild-mannered man at home but there is another side to him. He bullies and runs down his frightened wife with abuse and sending her into psychotic state as he is driving her into a nervous breakdown with threats to send her into the madhouse. She forgets things and mislays and loses articles, and he exaggerates all these episodes into a dramatic state. And does he just go to his club when he goes out (and the lamps dim)?

As Mrs Manningham, Judy Ellson was the lynch pin of this drama with a huge role to remember, she reacted to the abuse and bullying with dismay and disbelief into hysterics and really did wonder if she was following her mother into the madhouse. Trying to live a ‘normal’ Victorian life for her station with tapestry and organising the running of a house through the housekeeper, her nerves just let her down as she dissolved into tears when she tried so hard to remember so many facts and things in her frightened state.

Lyndsey King as the Housekeeper Elizabeth kept feet on the ground as the house ran the normal route and she looked after her mistress in spite of the problems. And Nancy the young maid (Cerian Ellson) was cheeky and disparaging of her mistress and flirtacious with the master.

Enter Rough (Sergeant) by Neil Ellson, following up an old case, a murder, still not resolved from 20 years ago, but now he is on the trail. A strong character who has to overcome the paranoid wife frightened almost to death, but with his patience and plausible explanations he manages to get an ally in this case. The lights dimming on the exit of husband are explained away, the search for evidence is undertaken with efficiency, a helpful relationship is established and all seems to be going well until the return of the husband. However all ends well.

A very wordy play but the audience enthralled by the plot, a pin could be heard to drop during the action, no-one moved or even breathed as the action progressed.

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