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   Gas Light   
   From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   
      
   Vincent Price on Broadway as Mr. Manningham in Angel Street, photographed by   
   Carl Van Vechten, 1942   
   Gas Light (known in the United States as Angel Street) is a 1938 play by the   
   British dramatist Patrick Hamilton. The play (and its film adaptations) gave   
   rise to the term gaslighting with the meaning "a form of psychological abuse   
   in which false    
   information is presented to the victim with the intent of making him/her doubt   
   his/her own memory and perception".   
      
   Contents   
      
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   1	Synopsis   
   2	Productions   
   3	Critical reception   
   4	Film and television adaptations   
   5	References   
   6	External links   
   Synopsis   
      
   The play is set in fog-bound London in 1880 at the upper middle class home of   
   Jack Manningham and his wife Bella. It is late afternoon, a time which   
   Hamilton notes as being the time "before the feeble dawn of gaslight and tea".   
      
   At the opening of the drama Bella is clearly on edge, and the stern reproaches   
   from her overbearing husband (who flirts with the servants) makes matters   
   worse. What most perturbs Bella is Jack's unexplained disappearances from the   
   house: he will not tell    
   her where he is going, and this increases her anxiety. As the drama unfolds,   
   it becomes clear that Jack is intent on convincing Bella that she is going   
   insane, even to the point of assuring her she is "imagining" the gas light in   
   the house is dimming.   
      
   The appearance of a police detective called Rough soon leads Bella to realise   
   that Jack is responsible for her torment. Rough explains that the apartment   
   above was once occupied by one Alice Barlow, a wealthy woman who was murdered   
   for her jewels but    
   that the murderer never uncovered them.   
      
   In fact, Jack goes to the flat each night to search for the jewels, and   
   illuminating the gaslights in it causes the lights to dim in the rest of the   
   building. His footsteps in what is supposed to be an empty apartment are used   
   to make Bella believe that    
   she is hearing things. Rough convinces Bella to assist him in exposing Jack as   
   the murderer, which she does, but not before she takes revenge on Jack by   
   pretending to help him escape. At the last minute she reminds him that, having   
   gone insane, she is    
   not accountable for her actions. The play closes with Jack Manningham being   
   led away by the police.   
      
   Productions   
      
   The play, titled Gas Light, premiered in London in December 1938 and ran for   
   six months.[1] It premiered on the West End at the Apollo Theatre.   
      
   Angel Street (United States title) premiered on Broadway at the John Golden   
   Theatre on 5 December 1941, transferred to the Bijou Theatre on 2 October   
   1944, and closed on 30 December 1944 after 1295 performances. Directed by   
   Shepard Traube, the cast    
   featured Leo G. Carroll (Rough), Florence Edney (Elizabeth), Elizabeth Eustis   
   (Nancy), Judith Evelyn (Mrs. Manningham) and Vincent Price (Mr.    
   anningham).[2][3]   
      
   The play ran at New York City Center from 22 January 1948 to 1 February 1948,   
   for 14 performances. Directed by Richard Barr, the cast featured José Ferrer   
   (Mr. Manningham), Uta Hagen (Mrs. Manningham), Phyllis Hill (Nancy), Nan   
   McFarland (Elizabeth),    
   Ralph Roberts (Policeman), Victor Thorley (Policeman) and Richard Whorf   
   (Rough).[4]   
      
   The play was revived on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre opening on 26 December   
   1975 and closing on 8 February 1976 after 52 performances and 4 previews.   
   Again directed by Shepard Traube, the cast featured Michael Allinson (Mr.   
   Manningham), Dina Merrill (   
   Mrs. Manningham), Christine Andreas (Nancy), Bette Henritze (Elizabeth) and   
   Robert E. Thompson (Rough).[5][6]   
      
   The play was produced at The Old Vic, London, in June 2007 (under the title of   
   Gaslight). Directed by Peter Gill, the cast featured Andrew Woodall as Mr.   
   Manningham, Rosamund Pike as Mrs. Manningham and Kenneth Cranham as Rough.[7]   
      
   The play was produced Off-Broadway (as Gaslight) by the Irish Repertory   
   Theatre, running from 17 May 2007 to 8 July 2007. Directed by Charlotte Moore,   
   the cast featured 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 production received a Lucille Lortel Awards nomination,   
   Outstanding Featured Actor (Brian Murray), and Drama League Award nominations   
   for Distinguished Revival    
   of a Play and Distinguished Performance Award (David Staller).[8][9]   
      
   In 2014, the Sandyford Little Theatre Company produced Gaslight, a Radio Play   
   for Stage,[10] an on-stage "radio play" with seven actors playing 24 roles.   
      
   In 2015, Myriad Theatre & Film produced Gaslight at Ingatestone Hall in Essex.   
      
   Critical reception   
      
   Louis Kronenberger wrote in his review of the 1948 City Center production that   
   "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.   
   "[11] Brooks Atkinson, in The New York Times, is quoted as writing "As a   
   creepshow, Patrick Hamilton's Victorian melodrama remains close to the top of   
   the class."[11]   
      
   The New York Times reviewer of the 2007 production wrote:   
      
   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 ageing imp who hides out in nooks and corners, showing a   
   benevolent sarcasm that    
   teases Bella out of her dimwitted complacency.[12]   
      
   Angel Street was a hit in its Broadway premiere, and it remains one of the   
   longest-running non-musicals in Broadway history, with 1,295 total   
   performances.[13]   
      
   It remains a perennial favourite with both repertory and amateur theatre   
   companies.   
      
   Film and television adaptations   
      
   The play Gas Light was adapted for film twice:   
      
   The 1940 British film Gaslight, directed by Thorold Dickinson.   
      
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