The cast of the Victorian London-set domestic thriller will include Tony Award nominee Brian Murray (Noises Off, Da, The Crucible, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) as the detective, Laura Odeh as the wife, David Staller as the husband, Laoisa Sexton as Nancy and Patricia O'Connell as Elizabeth. Irish Rep artistic director Charlotte Moore directs.
Opening is May 17 at Irish Rep's home on West 22nd Street in Chelsea. Performances run to July 8.
"The attractive but menacing Jack Manningham is slowly driving his fragile, young wife insane by coldly accusing her of petty aberrations cleverly arranged by himself," according to Irish Rep. "Since Bella Manningham's mother died incarcerated and insane she is half convinced that she, too is losing her mind. While her diabolical husband is out of the house a mysterious police inspector visits and insists that her husband is a maniacal criminal suspected of a murder committed 15 years ago in the same house, and that he is preparing to dispose of her. The thrilling and melodramatic game of uncovering the necessary evidence before Manningham returns begins."
The play — from which the verb "gaslight," as in deceiving by providing manufactured evidence, was coined — was first produced on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre in 1941 as Angel Street starring Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn. Angel Street ran on Broadway Dec. 5, 1941-Dec. 30, 1944, entertaining wartime audiences for 1,295 performances. A 1975 Broadway revival ran 52 performances starring Dina Merrill as Mrs. Manningham.
George Cukor's Acadamy Award-winning film version appeared in 1944 and starred Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury. The creative team includes set designer James Morgan, lighting designer Brian Nason, costume designer Martha Hally, sound designer Zachary Williamson, wig and hair designer Robert-Charles Vallance. Christine S. Lemme is the stage manager; April Ann Kline is the assistant stage manager.
As a novelist Patrick Hamilton made his debut at the age of 19 with the Dickensian "Monday Morning"(1925), followed by "Craven House" (1926), a story of the inmates of a boarding house. His first stage success was Rope (1929), produced in the U.S. as Rope's End.
Performances of Gaslight will play Tuesday-Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 3 PM. Tickets are $60 and $55 and can be purchased by calling The Irish Repertory Theatre box office at (212) 727-2737.
For more information, visit www.irishrep.org.
