Classic Thriller GASLIGHT Comes To Sandgate Town Hall 2/27

This classic thriller, set in Victorian London, was first produced in 1938 and later filmed twice, in Britain and in the USA. Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for her portrayal of Bella Manningham in the latter version.

Jack Manningham is slowly, deliberately, driving his wife, Bella, insane. He has almost succeeded when help arrives in the form of a former detective, Rough, who believes Manningham to be a thief and murderer. Aided by Bella, Rough proves Manningham's true identity and finally Bella achieves a few moments of sweet revenge for the suffering inflicted on her.

"Gaslight" written by Patrick Hamilton and Directed by Christine Linning.

February 27th, 28th, March 6th, 7th, 13th and 14th 2009 at 7:30pm. (Doors open at 7pm)
Tickets $18 and $14 concession
Available from Chris Packman 3269 7784, 0403 886458 or theatrebookings@yahoo.com.au.
Sandgate Town Hall

Cast
Mr Manningham
Douglas Hillman
Mrs Manningham
Donna Woollard
Rough
David Corrie
Elizabeth
Carmel Sweeney
Nancy
Di Ross

Gaslight was the play that made Patrick Hamilton a rich man. When it opened late in 1938, he was - at 34 - already regarded as a highly promising novelist, his standing recently bolstered by the final part of his semi-autobiographical trilogy 20,000 Streets Under the Sky.

He had also achieved, with his stage-debut thriller Rope almost 10 years earlier, overnight notoriety of a sort not seen since Noël Coward's The Vortex. Nevertheless, his follow-up, subtitled "a Victorian thriller", put him in a different league of fame and fortune.

There was adulation from reviewers, as well as his peers (Coward among them). George VI and Queen Elizabeth hastened to the Apollo Theatre to see what the fuss was about, and after a six-month run in the West End, Gaslight - retitled Angel Street - went on to wow Broadway for four years and inspired two film versions: the first British in 1940, the second American in 1944. Not bad for a play in which - essentially - an arch-villain called Mr Manningham, obsessed with finding the jewels belonging to an old woman he once murdered, drives his wife to the brink of insanity, before salvation materialises in the kindly form of a retired detective called Rough.

Gaslight is a 1944 mystery-thriller film adapted from Patrick Hamilton's play Gaslight. It was the second version to be filmed; the first, released in Great Britain, had been made a mere four years earlier. This 1944 version of the story was directed by George Cukor and starred Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and eighteen-year-old Angela Lansbury in her screen debut. This remake had a larger scale and budget and lends a different feel to the material.

Need more Australia - Melbourne Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...