Review: GASLIGHT at Her Majesty's Theatre

Reviewed by Petra Schulenburg, Tuesday 8th September 2020.

The State Theatre Company of South Australia makes a post-COVID-lockdown return to the live stage with its production of Gaslight. The first mainstage production to open in the new Her Majesty's Theatre, Gaslight is a classic thriller, tense, and eminently enjoyable.

Written by playwright, Patrick Hamilton, Gaslight was first performed in London in 1938. A 1940 English movie version followed the play's success, but it is best remembered for the 1944 American film version starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman, a role for which she won an Oscar.

Set in the latter part of the 19th century, Gaslight is an early "domestic-peril thriller" telling the story of a woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is going insane. Unbeknownst to Bella Manningham (Ksenja Logos), husband Jack (Nathan O'Keefe) is a murderer who, 20 years after the fact, has returned to the scene of the crime intent on finding a valuable stash of lost rubies hidden somewhere in their gloomy Victorian house. To get Bella out of the way, Jack contrives to convince her and the household staff that she is mad, with a view to having her committed. Objects are moved or go missing without explanation, and Bella hears noises in the room above her bedroom at night. Terrified, she watches the gaslights dim and brighten, seemingly of their own accord. No wonder Bella doubts her own sanity.

The term 'gaslighting' was first coined colloquially in the 1960s. It is used to describe a form of psychological manipulation targeted to sow seeds of doubt and destroy another's perception of reality. Using denial, misdirection, and misinformation, gaslighting attempts to destabilise the victim's beliefs. If this is sounding familiar, one only need look to the US political situation in play today for a large-scale contemporary example of gaslighting at work.

Director, Catherine Fitzgerald has made a bold stylistic choice in this production by purposefully blurring gender lines. The non-traditional casting of a woman (Eileen Darley) in the key role of Inspector Rough is a "nod and a wink to the male impersonators that were so popular in Music Halls during Victorian and Edwardian England." She supports this decision by incorporating a Music Hall style introduction to the show, with Darley wonderfully channelling the famous Vesta Tilley and, thereby, cleverly setting the scene and expectations of the audience when the Inspector makes his/her first entrance. We are being invited to partake in storytelling in its purest form and the Inspector, almost in the role of narrator, takes us on this journey.

The choice works, predominantly because Gaslight is a play of its time. As such, Fitzgerald has asked her actors to play to the melodrama inherent in the script. Every reaction is heightened, occasionally absurdly so, and the audience can join in a laugh at language and behaviour so foreign to todays' social mores.

Ksenja Logos plays Bella Manningham with a kind of frenzied and hyperactive intensity. Small wonder, the woman is cornered and desperate, fearful and fragile. She bounces around the set, deflecting and reflecting each new assault on her sanity.

Nathan O'Keefe as Jack Manningham comes across, initially, as almost benign, if patronising, the strong calm male to his wife's weak-minded madwoman. It is not until he starts to turn the screws on Bella that you begin to gauge the depths of his narcissism and cruelty.

A highlight is Eileen Darley in the role of Inspector Rough, a character of great warmth and wit, like a favourite uncle at Christmas. Clever and confident, he thinks on his feet and he has his quarry clearly in his sights. Darley brings great humanity to the role which, in other hands, could have become caricature.

Elizabeth, the housekeeper, played by Ellen Freeman, is the epitome of the stalwart, faithful servant who knows her place. She holds her tongue, but sees everything and does what she can to help the Inspector rescue her struggling mistress.

Katherine Sortini plays Nancy, the 'saucy' maid. The character of young Nancy provides the palpable sexual tension in the play. She is no stranger to men and strings along a host of beaux, all of whom she would drop in a moment for Mr Manningham "because she has always wanted him." I would have liked to see more of Nancy's disdain for her mistress earlier in the play. Nancy is world-wise and strong, she would have little empathy for the likes of Bella Manningham, her rival.

The evocative set is wonderful, as are the costumes. The entire play takes place in a drawing room through one afternoon into late evening. In a classic box set, designer, Ailsa Paterson, presents us with a rundown Victorian era interior, oppressive, constrictive, tired, worn out, as dark and corrupted as the bleak history of the house's past. Paterson employs a wonderful use of colour and contrast in both her set and beautifully detailed costumes.

Nic Mollison creates a moody, atmospheric lighting design that adds to the suspense and overall feeling of oppression. Composer Andrew Howard, the company's resident sound designer, has created a subtle soundscape that enhances and highlights key moments of tension and terror.

In some ways, Gaslight feels like an odd choice for a modern theatre company. In spite of its strong themes and detailed psychological analysis of emotional abuse the script is, nonetheless, dated both in terms of language and, of course, gender roles. Fitzgerald's decision to make it more palatable for a modern audience by playing to the melodrama works, but it comes at a cost. Naturally, some of the subtleties are lost, particularly the slow building of real tension and terror. There is a genuine feeling of dread and pity on behalf of the audience for Bella's horrific plight.

Gaslight, nonetheless, provides an entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable evening out, especially after this year's enforced drought of live theatre. Pleased to be in the beautiful surrounds of the new Her Majesty's Theatre, the opening night audience audibly breathed in the excitement and the creative joy that went into the making of this wonderful production.

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