Review: Under the Gaslight by Austin Community College
by Michael Meigs
Ever wonder about the melodrama scene where the dastardly villain ties his victim to the railroad tracks? No, it didn't originate with Snidley Whiplash and Dudley Dooright, though that may be where you first saw it. Jay Ward was copying it out of a long tradition of silent movie serials that drew on saloon theatricals.
Credit for the notion goes to New York theatre empresario Augustin Daly, in his 1867 production of this play, Under The Gaslight, which he wrote. And the railway scene is a bonafide thrilling moment in that sentimental drama, especially when the cast directed by Shelby Brammer plays it all absolutely straight, without a whisper of irony. Perhaps you'll be surprised to find that the victim is not the innocent maiden -- in fact, the innocent maiden is clever and plucky enough to free the prisoner just before the express train comes tearing through for New York City.
Austin Community College students step back 140 years for this one, mightily aided by pro actors David Yeakle, Paul Mitchell Wright and Arthur Adair.
The piece opens in a New York mansion, where genteel Pearl (Hailey Tuck) is conversing with man-about-town Ray (Enoch Tamez). He is all in a fit because of the delay of his fiancée Laura, Pearl's cousin. Laura (Anna McConnell) arrives, delighted, but in a sudden and menacing unfolding of events a tall, mysterious stranger in a top hat demands admission.
This is the rascal Byke, who knows a "terrible secret" that he's willing to hush up in exchange for funds. The upshot of his meddling is that the engagement is broken, a mislaid letter on the subject scandalizes good society, and Laura flees into the less salubrious neighborhoods of New York.
Ray eventually decides that he's heart-broken, and he enlists the assistance of one-armed Civil War veteran Snorkley to find his vanished love. David Yeakle as Snorkley makes the acquaintance of a group of hardy adventurers and freedmen. In that crowd the charismatic Joshua Mayes as Bermudas has a grin a mile wide, a fine voice and slap-happy dancing shoes. When Laura is eventually discovered, bad guy Byke asserts that he's Laura's father. Wright plays Byke with sinewy grace and without superfluous mannerisms. His claim gets a boisterous hearing in the court of Judge Bowling (Arthur Adair).
The staging and action flicker forward with a fluidity that reminds one of cinema, which wouldn't be invented for another fifty years or so. Peter Sukovaty's lighting, evocative minimalist sets and intriguing projections again show him to be one of Austin's most effective designers. He evokes the New York mansion in the snow and the premises of Delmonico's restaurant; Laura's basement refuge, probably down in the Bowery; the police court; a serene pier lapped by the Hudson; an elegant but lonely country mansion; and a railroad station in the full moon. 
Down in the auditorium, since there is no pit, Billy Wolfe is on the keyboard, accompanied by a cellist and a musician handy with guitar and banjo. His score is witty, surprising, richly toned and far more effective than the clichéd pounding of a pianist at a silent movie.
This is a rare chance to see a fresh and apparently faithful recreation of the type of sentimental drama later rejected by American and European dramatists. Darkness resides only in the bad guys and in the gossip of the chattering classes. In one of the closing scenes Laura delivers to Ray a sweet homily, a silver-tinted bubble of pure intention, as she sets him free to marry Pearl. She concludes, "Happiness is duty, well performed."
That's a sentiment that you might find embroidered on your great grandmother's sampler, packed away with lavender sprigs in the bottom of a forgotten trunk. If you can put aside for just a couple of hours your own more complex and less obviously laudable 21st century certainties, you will enjoy watching these characters trying to do right, be kind, and defeat wickedness.
Once again, Austin Community College demonstrates creativity and imagination in its drama programing. Thanks to Shelby Brammer, who's both chair of that department and director of this enchanting excursion.
Recommended!
Review by Rob Faubion at AustinOnStage.com, November 4
Review by Elizabeth Cobbe in the Austin Chronicle, November 5
Feature story at AustinOnStage.com, October 18 (attention: spoilers!)
EXTRA
Click to view program of Under The Gaslight from Austin Community College
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Under the Gaslight
by Augustin Daley
Austin Community College
