Gas light (acting)

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Vincent Price on Broadway as Mr. Manningham in Angel Street , photographed by Carl Van Vechten , 1942

Gaslight ( Gaslight , in the US known as Angel Street ) is a spectacle of British playwright Patrick Hamilton from 1938. The piece and its adaptations inspired the concept of gas lighting , which is a form of psychological abuse refers, are used in the wrong information to make the victims doubt their memories and sensations, which slowly deforms or destroys their self-confidence.

Synopsis

The play takes place in foggy London in 1880 in the upper middle class apartment of Jack Manningham and his wife Bella. It is late afternoon, in Hamilton's words the time "before the feeble dawn of gaslight and tea" (time of gas light and tea).

Bella is restless, which is made worse by her husband's accusations and his flirting with the servants. Most disturbing is his disappearance, which he does not explain and which increases her fear. As the drama unfolds, it is clear that Jack is trying to convince Bella that she is insane and that she is just imagining the gas light is getting darker.

The appearance of Police Detective Rough lets Bella realize that Jack is tormenting her. The upstairs apartment was once occupied by Alice Barlow, who was murdered for her jewels but which were never found. Jack is looking for the jewels and since he lights the gas light, the rest of the house gets darker. His footsteps in the empty apartment make Bella believe she is hearing things. Rough convinces Bella to help convict Jack as a murderer. Before that, however, she pretends to help Jack escape in order to get revenge: She explains to him that as a madwoman she is not responsible for her actions.

The game ends when Jack is taken away by the police.

Performance history

The premiere was in London in December 1938 and resulted in a six-month season. The premier theater was the Apollo Theater in the West End.

The American premiere under the title Angel Street took place on December 5, 1941 at the John Golden Theater on Broadway . The play had been performed in the Bijou Theater since October 2, 1944 , and was removed from the program on December 30, 1944 after 1,295 performances. Directed by Shepard Traube starred Leo G. Carroll (Rough), Florence Edney (Elizabeth), Elizabeth Eustis (Nancy), Judith Evelyn (Mrs. Manningham) and Vincent Price (Mr. Manningham).

In New York City Center , there were of 22 January 1948 to February 1, 1948 14 performances under the direction of Richard Barr with Jose Ferrer (Mr. Manningham), Uta Hagen (Mrs. Manningham) Phyllis Hill (Nancy), Nan McFarland (Elizabeth), Ralph Roberts (Policeman), Victor Thorley (Policeman) and Richard Whorf (Rough).

Revivals on Broadway took place from December 26, 1975 to February 8, 1976 at the Lyceum Theater (52 performances and 4 previews). Again directed by Shepard Traube, Michael Allinson (Mr. Manningham), Dina Merrill (Mrs. Manningham), Christine Andreas (Nancy), Bette Henritze (Elizabeth) and Robert E. Thompson (Rough) played.

In 2005 Dulaang UP produced a version of the piece in Filipino and English .

In June 2007 the work was shown at the Old Vic Theater in London as Gaslight , directed by Peter Gill, with Andrew Woodall as Mr. Manningham, Rosamund Pike as Mrs. Manningham and Kenneth Cranham as Rough.

An off-Broadway production by the Irish Repertory Theater ran from May 17, 2007 to July 8, 2007. The director was Charlotte Moore, the actors David Staller (Mr. Manningham), Laura Odeh (Mrs. Manningham), Laoisa Sexton (Nancy) , Patricia O'Connell (Elizabeth), April Ann Klein (Police Officer) and Brian Murray (Rough). The play was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Awards , Murray received the award for Outstanding Featured Actor . The production also received nominations for the Drama League Award in the categories Distinguished Revival of a Play and Distinguished Performance (David Staller).

In 2014 the Sandyford Little Theater Company produced Gaslight, a Radio Play for Stage , a stage version as a radio performance with seven actors for 24 roles.

In 2015 Myriad Theater & Film produced Gaslight at Ingatestone Hall in Essex .

The more prominent the term gaslighting appears as a buzzword in traditional media and social media, often in connection with Toxic Masculinity , the more artists presented their respective interpretations of Hamilton's piece, observed Natasha Tripney in an article in the British Guardian . In the UK alone, at least five new productions premiered in 2019, including at Watford Palace Theater, the Playground Theater in London, the Perth Theater and The Mill at Sonning.

reception

Louis Kronenberger described the 1948 City Center production as one of the best thrillers ("it remains one of the better thrillers ... let's call it one of the best. All the same, though it holds up nicely for three acts, it seems to me outstandingly good for only one. ") Brooks Atkinson calls the play one of the best Victorian dramas in the New York Times (" As a creepshow, Patrick Hamilton's Victorian melodrama remains close to the top of the class. ")

The New York Times finds Cruelty, Claustrophobia, and Sarcasm in the 2007 production:

“David Staller plays this undesirable husband as a man whose lust exempts nothing. Every time he appears onstage, you think: keep this person away from my babysitter and Rolex. Mr. Staller's rogue posture modulates his character's cruelty, leavening the play's potentially stifling mood. Mr. Hamilton believed our most dangerous enemies were always in the room with us ..., and his work can feel claustrophobic. Ms. Moore is aware of this, providing the proper ventilation to clear much of the Victorian must. Brian Murray, playing the detective who uncovers Manningham's plan, is her greatest asset in this regard. He appears onstage with the red cheeks of a Santa Claus, an aging imp who hides out in nooks and corners, showing a benevolent sarcasm that teases Bella out of her dimwitted complacency. "

Angel Street was a success on its Broadway premiere and is still one of the longest-running non-musical pieces in Broadway history (1,295 performances).

It continues to be one of the favorites of repertoire and amateur theaters.

On the occasion of the surprising bestseller status of the novel in 1984 in January 2017 of the political debate about " alternative facts is associated," the journalist and writer denies January Drees just such a context, and instead provides a proximity between Fake Facts and Gas Lighting firmly.

Film and television adaptations

There are two film versions of the play:

The British version was released in America as Angel Street in March 2016 to avoid confusion with the American film.

There are five dramatizations for television:

On February 3, 1947, a half-hour radio performance was broadcast from The Screen Guild Theater starring Charles Boyer and Susan Hayward .

In 1946 the Lux Radio Theater produced a one-hour radio version with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman , the stars of the Cukor film.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gaslight Guide ( Memento June 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) bard.org (Utah Shakespearean Festival), accessed June 20, 2013.
  2. ↑ 'Angel Street' ibdb.com, accessed June 20, 2013.
  3. ↑ 'Angel Street' playbillvault.com, accessed June 20, 2013.
  4. ↑ Angel Street Listing, 1948 playbillvault.com, accessed June 20, 2013.
  5. ↑ Angel Street Listing, 1975 ibdb.com, accessed June 20, 2013.
  6. ↑ 'Angel Street' Listing, 1975 playbillvault.com, accessed June 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ Angel Street ( Memento of November 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: fieldfindings.blogspot.com of February 22, 2005. Retrieved on October 8, 2019. (English)
  8. ^ Michael Billington: Theater. 'Gaslight' The Guardian. June 14, 2007.
  9. ↑ 'Angel Street' Listing, 2007 ( September 16, 2007 memento on the Internet Archive ) Internet Off-Broadway Database, accessed June 20, 2013.
  10. ↑ Kenneth Jones: 'Gaslight', the Wartime Hit Once Called 'Angel Street', Opens May 17 ( Memento June 17, 2011 on the Internet Archive ) playbill.com, May 17, 2007.
  11. ^ Sandyford Little Theater Company ( February 21, 2015 memento in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Natasha Tripney: Gaslight: the return of the play that defined toxic masculinity . In: The Guardian . October 8, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed October 14, 2019]).
  13. ^ A b Louis Kronenberger: Victorian Villainy at the City Center. fultonhistory.com, January 25, 1948.
  14. ^ Ginia Bellafante: Theater Review. 'Gaslight' In: The New York Times. May 24, 2007.
  15. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: philadelphiaweekly.com )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.philadelphiaweekly.com
  16. ↑ Deutschlandradio Wissen: Walls worldwide, new to the job. In: editorial conference on January 25, 2017, 6:15 p.m., excerpt: 0:21:15 - 0:26:15. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  17. ↑ Gaslight. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved November 10, 2018 .
  18. ^ Gas Light. In: imdb. Retrieved October 11, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Gaslight. In: imdb. Retrieved October 11, 2019 .
  20. ↑ filmpolski.pl
  21. ↑ Deutsches Filmhaus
  22. ^ Radio Broadcast Log Of: The Screen Guild Theater . In: Audio Classics Archive . Archived from the original on September 17, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2010.