Reviewed by Catherine Crouch
Pacific Resident Theatre
Through August 30
RECOMMENDED
Though modern audiences might be unfamiliar with the story in Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 Gaslight, the play’s central image has cemented itself in modern lingo, whether Gen Z knows its origin or not. The play inspired two films of the same name, the most notable one being George Cukor’s 1944 rendering starring Ingrid Bergman, which garnered two Academy Awards. Today, the Pacific Resident Theatre’s production, directed by Michael Rothhaar, brings us back to 19th Century England and shows us that while times may have changed, the stuff of the past may not be so distant.
Gaslight takes place over one evening in 1880s London and follows the Manninghams, an upper middle-class couple that have only just moved to the city six months prior. From the play’s outset, audiences are quick to grasp the uneasy dynamic between the couple. Mrs. Manningham (Tania Getty) is chastised and infantilized by her husband (Jaxon Duff Gwillim), who assures her that she has slowly, and then rapidly, grown mad. She is deceitful, forgetful, and cruel — according to Mr. Manningham — yet Mrs. Manningham doesn’t recall doing anything he has accused her of.
When her husband goes out for the evening, as he always does, Mrs. Manningham is visited by a stranger who announces himself as Inspector Rough (Stuart W. Howard). To Mrs. Manningham’s surprise, Rough doesn’t think she’s mad at all. In fact, he wants to help her solve the mysteries she seems to have been purposefully kept in the dark. Is Mr. Manningham trying to drive her insane? Where does he really goes each night? And most of all, why do her home’s gaslights — designed to only dim when a light in another room is turned on — grow faint when her husband is out? Might the reason be related to the footsteps she hears from her home’s off-limits top floor?
Gaslight’s cast excels under Rothhaar’s direction. The staging is organic and not at all limited by the proscenium’s small footprint. Taubert Nadalini’s set is intentional, intimate, and skillfully evokes the Victorian claustrophobia underpinning the play’s narrative. After all, while Gaslight’s plot is exceptional, the expectation for women to obey their husband’s orders and stay where they’re told, without question, is arguably standard.
Each actor performs Hamilton’s wordy dialogue with ease. The Manninghams’ two servants, honest Elizabeth (Rita Obermeyer) and the impertinent Nancy (Miranda Wynne) bring both sincerity and humor to a play whose story of domestic violence is much in need of it.
Ultimately, the production shines brightest in its steadfast adherence to the time, setting, and mood it was written in. While there has been a recent impulse to tech-ify theater with screens, projections, and a whole litany of modern inventions and references, there is something deeply refreshing about a staging that sticks to its original form. When a story is this gripping, you don’t need an edgy retelling to speak to modern audiences. Thus, Pacific Resident Theatre’s Gaslight serves as up a sound reminder that you don’t need a host of bells and whistles to make great theater. With a strong script, a dedicated cast, and confident direction, the very best stories transport us, entertain us, and affirm us, teaching us that those we view as strangers aren’t really that strange, and that the past, for better or worse, lives on forever.
Pacific Resident Theatre, 705 ½ Venice Blvd, Venice. Thurs.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 3 pm, dark June 29, July 4, 11, 12, 28; 3 pm matinees on July 5 and Aug. 2; 2 pm matinee on August 6; Thru Aug. 30. https://pacificresidenttheatre.org Running time: Approximately 2 hours with 15 minute intermission.
