Gaslight

‘Gaslight’ is a thriller, written 70 years ago by Patrick Hamilton. The latest production from the Old Mill Theatre in South Perth, it is showing until 25^th October.

         The location is the front room of a reasonably well-to-do house in London in the 1880s. The owner, Jack Manningham (Robert Whyte), is a bullying, philandering husband whom seems to get great pleasure from taunting his loving, delicate wife Bella (Mia Martin). Bella’s mother died in a madhouse ‘with little brain left’ and poor Bella is certain that she is destined for the same fate.

         There are two servants, the elderly dedicated Elizabeth (Rosemary Longhurst) and young flighty, yet slightly mysterious, Nancy (Dannielle Ashton).

         One evening when the master of the house is out visiting friends, Detective Rough arrives and asks to see the Mrs Manningham. Although retired, when the caring Detective Rough has a bee in his bonnet, he won’t rest until the problem has been cleared up.

Although there is one murder in the story, this is really more of a psychological thriller. The script captures the chauvinistic era well, and has the audience wondering if what is obvious is in fact true.

The curtains opened slowly (how rarely one sees a simple act like this used to effect) to gradually reveal the dimly lit room – and the smell of fresh paint, the set being finished only hours before. The décor was probably the best I have seen for a community production in many a year (Hywel Williams and Tim Prosser), so it was little wonder that there was a round of applause before even a word was spoken. The props and soft furnishing (Julie Cecchi and Tina Wilton) made the room truly lived-in! It was obvious that a great deal of thought had gone into the costumes (Jenny Prosser) which were correct for the period. The crux of the play depended upon the gas lighting, and the John Spurling’s ambience was authentic.

Director, Sally Barendse, had already shown the strength of her production team and now with a superb cast, each and everyone outstanding, the show just took off. I am sure that this talented cast, will not mind me giving a special mention of Mia as the downtrodden, demented mistress of the house.

A fairly simple story but riveting. Quality and magnificent.

Re the above:

There are good seats for all remaining shows  The last night night, Otober 25th has about 12 seats remaining.

Wednesday October 22 is rather light on as of now (Monday Oct 13th) As this is a fairly new venture for us no-one seems to have got the idea yet that we are now trialling out a Wednesday- so come on and fill up the place-we'd love to see you all there-yes even the trolls.

Suggest call 0402.249.249 for bookings instead of the theatre number.

Dates: Thursday-Saturday Oct 16-18 and Wednesday to Saturday October 22-25 all 8 pm

You are a gentleman Gordon and quite right in your appraisal of the magnificent work of our "behind the scene" people and Mia. And my grateful thanks for the footnote mention! 

But then, woe, woe, thrice times woe! In all this talk of “Gaslight,” I’ve become acutely aware, that alas and alack, the poor detective always gets the rough end of the stick – he’s never mentioned. Sigh, I know my place, at my age the leading roles will never come my way, but I can take it!

On a serious note, I thought that some may be interested in a little of the film history, in that there were two “Gaslight” films – the first made in 1940, was much closer to the play, concentrating on the abusive and manipulative marriage, not to mention that they cast a biggish bloke as the detective - a rougher and older (hmm, that all rings a bell!), Frank Pettingell, rather than a handsome matinee idol, such as Joseph Cotton, (who appeared in the 1944 remake).

The early film stared Diana Wynyard, Anton Walbrook and Frank Pettingel, while the remake stared Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotton, plus of course Angela Lansbury.

What’s fascinating, is that MGM reportedly tried to suppress release of the 1940 film in the United States, firstly by changing the name of the earlier film to "Angel Street" and later, when that didn’t work, trying to have the negative destroyed, so it would not compete with their more publicized (and far more expensive)1944 remake.

All Good Things

Greg

PS: My congratulations to Kerri as well, thank God, we seem to be honouring people who work with children in fields other than bloody football!

PPS: I feel my supreme sacrifice to the world of theatre today, rates a mention - for the first time in over thirty years, I didn't watch the whole Bathurst 1000! Yes, I left for the Old Mill, when there was still about 20 minutes of racing to go! However I must confess that I then spent time in the Green room listening to the results on my mobile. Hmm, does that make me a matinee idol, or just idle at the matinee? Please, no applause, tears of gratitude will do!

Agreed and well said.

Absit invidia (and DFT :nono:)

Jeff Watkins

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Finding an Age

Just had to make comment on this one. Technically an anonymous posting is not a Troll posting. Trolls postings are postings designed to get a reaction, specifically a disruptive emotional reaction, which means a Troll could be a Guest or Registered poster. Note the bolded sections in the 'offical' definition of Trolling below. Therefore an anonymous posting which is constructive, positive and informative, is not Trolling. Just wanted to clarify that.

"Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they — and the troll — understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.

Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community. Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling — where the rate of deception is high — many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation." (Donath, 1999, p. 45)"

Absit invidia (and DFT :nono:)

Jeff Watkins

Home Page
Yahoo Blog Page

Finding an Age

I take on board Jeff's (Hansen) comments re this being a Review thread, however in light of the enlightening Troll-Speak from Labrug, I wondered whether Trolls were male and the female version is a Trollop?

Either way, there are those who dwell in the gutter in all walks of life and in my experience, the venom and anger they so often display is a front for self-loathing, a concept they could not of course be expected to grasp.

And while I totally agree with Hywell, (one really should not bother to answer childish heresay etc), I did smile and wonder if the "Mr Pinkshirt" was some sort of a veiled reference to me, as Detective Rough wears a pink shirt, the reference to which, is in the script.

Oh yes, to Interested Observer - do I pay by cheque, cash, or credit card? You are a gem, whoever you may be. Thank you - my daughters agree with you.

All Good Things

Greg