Gaslight - Angel Street
by Way Off Broadway Community Players
Nov. 05 (2018)
Set in an 1880s Victorian mansion located in London on Angel Street, we soon learn that the master of the House, Jack Manningham, is trying to persuade his wife Bella that, like her mother before her, she is losing her mind. No spoiler here -- as a result of Patrick Hamilton’s play, the phrase “to gaslight” – “to terrify and confuse somebody else to the extent that the victim questions his or her own sanity” – came into common use.
Since we know “whodunnit” the suspense instead comes from two other questions.
Why is Jack Manningham trying to have his wife put away? Perhaps so he can then cavort with the beautiful and saucy maid Nancy, or does he have another nefarious motive?
The second question is whether Manningham will get away with his plot.
Fortunately, the increasingly distraught and desperate Bella has a couple of supporters in her corner. These are loyal maid Elizabeth and, more importantly, a retired Scotland Yard detective aptly named Rough who appears suddenly with a long-standing interest in the spooky Manningham home….
REMINDER!!!! AUDITIONS!!!
Way Off Broadway is hosting AUDITIONS *MONDAY* November 5 for the classic thriller Gaslight Angel Street
We're looking for 3 women and 2 men... ages approximate
MR. Jack MANNINGHAM - suave and authoritative, with a touch of mystery and bitterness.
MRS. Bella MANNINGHAM -.once a beauty, now haggard, wan, frightened air which tell of sleepless nights and worse.
ELIZABETH - a stout, amiable, subservient woman
NANCY - a self-conscious, pretty, cheeky girl of 19ish
ROUGH – Scotland yard inspector - active, brusque, friendly, overbearing... and very suspicious of Jack.
