GASLIGHT. To 18 August.

London.

GASLIGHT
by Patrick Hamilton.

Old Vic Theatre To 18 August 2007.
Mon-Sat7.30pm Mat Wed & Sat 2.30pm.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.

TICKETS: 0870 060 6628 (£2.50 processing fee per transaction).
www.oldvictheatre.com.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 June.

Shining example of dark thoughts.
“A Victorian Thriller” they’re calling it. We-ell, in a way. The Victorianism’s all in its setting. Author Patrick Hamilton (no mean novelist as well as playwright) was born several years after the old Queen, and her century, were dead, their reputation down the bottom of the dumps.

The yellow fog outside the hell-hole of the Manningham’s respectable home (beautifully detailed in Hayden Griffen’s set) provides a context for the fitfully illuminated interior, where the gas mantles suddenly dim as skulduggery gets to work in the attic. Hamilton was the most unglamorously pessimistic writer around, and all that’s unusual for him here is that it’s the man who oppresses his wife, where in his fiction it’s more often women tormenting infatuated men.

But the same cruelty and slow twists of torture, the mental deception and cruelty underpin Gaslight, giving its unfolding crime story a psychological emphasis. And uppity maid Nancy’s contempt for her mistress develops into a kind of sexual taunting when her master Jack Manningham makes his desire for her clear.

The most evident Hamilton footprint is the strange scene when the mentally-tortured Bella has gained the upper hand. Here’s no forgiveness or anger; Bella’s deliberate seeking-out of an opportunity to put Jack through the kind of torment he’s imposed on her through their life together is a characteristically sadistic Hamilton touch.

Tall and energetic, Rosamund Pike isn’t the immediate idea of the put-upon wife, but her lightness of voice, and the grace of her movement create a sense of timidity, someone browbeaten into submission through uncertainty about herself.

There could hardly be a bigger contrast between the men in her life. 15 years after calling as J B Priestley’s Inspector, Kenneth Cranham is a chubby, cheerful Rough, with a taste for the whisky he produces to fortify Bella. Cranham gives Rough’s confidence an untidy edge nearing clumsiness at times, increased by allowing sight of his attempts to avoid detection by Jack.

Andrew Woodall’s Jack is suitably sinister, though it would be good to find a production that kept the domestic situation ambiguous as long as possible. Good work from the contrasting servants, Rowena Cooper’s quietly loyal, troubled Elizabeth and Sally Tatum’s bright and flighty young Nancy in Peter Gill’s detailed production.

Jack Manningham: Andrew Woodall.
Bella Manningham: Rosamund Pike.
Nancy: Sally Tatum.
Elizabeth: Rowena Cooper.
Detective Rough: Kenneth Cranham.
1st Man: Matthew Field.
2nd Man: Edward Newborn.

Director: Peter Gill.
Designer: Hayden Griffin.
Lighting: Hartley TA Kemp.
Sound: David McSweeney.
Music: David Shrubsole.

2007-06-19 11:52:04