Chris Eldon Lee review ‘Gaslight’, which is at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle- Under-Lyme until Saturday 5th October 2013.
Patrick Hamilton made a lot of money out of ‘Gaslight’. He cleverly spotted that the good old-fashioned genre of the Victorian melodrama could be updated for more sophisticated 20th century audiences. By taking some of the ‘melo’ out of the drama, his ‘Gaslight’ was not only a West End success, it broke records on Broadway and earned him two film contracts.
It also unwittingly introduced into the English psychological vocabulary the phrase ‘gaslighting’, to describe a particular form of mental abuse in which one partner in a relationship uses concerted subterfuge to convince the other they are going mad.
This is ideal material for close-up examination and, interestingly, all three productions I’ve seen of the play have been performed in the claustrophobic confines of theatre-in-the-round.
The New Vic’s intimate stage has been converted into a highly convincing, well-to-do, gas lit Victorian drawing room where Jack Manningham assumes full domineering responsibility for his wife Bella’s well being – which he is clearly determined to utterly undermine. He’s systematically destroying her by constantly framing her for petty indiscretions. But why?
The plot is of counter-intuitive construction and soon revealed – but I still must not spoil it here. Suffice to say, the early arrival of a retired detective, with an almost implausible history to tell, gives Bella hope.
In such an intimate situation, the performances are paramount.
John Cording is regularly to be seen stalking the stage at Clwyd Theatr Cymru. Drafted to Newcastle, he’s outstanding as the congenial, charismatic copper; a cosy cross between Jack Frost and Father Christmas, with an unexpectedly accurate knowledge of Bella’s plight and a determination to resolve it – at all costs. Removing his heavy Victorian overcoat, Cording expands to fill the theatre in a way that is all-embracing and alluring. His delivery is both bumbling and conspiratorial; so much so that when he tells Bella “your whole future lies in what you do over the next hour”, the line is more of a comfort than a threat. It’s one of the best things I’ve seen this veteran actor do. Spot on.
Statuesque and wan, Bella is played by Alix Dunmore as a wavering weather vane. In Jack’s claws she’s a frightened bird, starved of credibility, and clinging to any scrap of fake affection he dangles before her. But when her fortunes blow the other way – as the detective takes her hands and feeds her whisky – we see her natural smiling, confident self; a former self she must try to subjugate when her husband returns. These are tricky transitions, so smoothly handled without a ripple to be seen.
By contrast, in the preview performance I saw, Brendan Hughes as her husband Jack was still shaking off some of the melodramatic excesses Hamilton was busily expunging. It’s a tough role of an outwardly charming but inwardly ruthless sociopath, and some of his gear changes were a bit bouncy. More subtlety would be more menacing, and would quell the nagging feeling that Bella must surely be suspicious by now.
For a psychological thriller, the story unfolds at a cracking pace (only stalling slightly when the audience is quicker on the uptake than Bella herself). Director Sarah Punshon keeps you on your toes, lowering the gaslights to a peering gloom and introducing a subliminal sound track to tighten the tension.
In short, this consummate production of Hamilton’s English classic is well worth putting on any playgoers’ list.
Visit www.newvictheatre.org.uk for bookings & more information about New Vic Theatre.
Photo : Andrew Bilington