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London,
Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Peter Gill.
Cast: Kenneth Cranham, Rosamund Pike, Andrew Woodall, Rowena Cooper
Description: Bella believes she is going crazy, while husband Jack goes out galavanting each night, seemingly oblivious to her distressed state. Then Detective Rough unexpectedly gets involved in the deepening mystery. Classic Victorian thriller by Patrick Hamilton, with Kenneth Cranham and Rosamund Pike.
Trains: Tube/BR: Waterloo 
Phone: 0870060 6628
Website: www.oldvictheatre.com
Extra info: Pub, Food
Beyond revival: Rosamund Pike as Bella Manningham, and Andrew Woodall as her brute of a husband in Gaslight
Bonding: Pike with Pierce Brosnan at the Gaslight after-show party at Baltic
It might have won an Oscar for Ingrid Bergman in its opened-out celluloid incarnation, but as a drama Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight (1938) has long been a creaky old thriller beloved of amateur dramatics companies with over-eager props departments.
Its revival at one of the West End's flagship venues is, therefore, something of a mystery, or at least considerably more of a mystery than anything Peter Gill's resolutely suspense-free production can offer. Not even Rosamund Pike, proving once more that she is to the period costume born, is enough to keep these gas-lamps flaring.
Ah yes, the gas-lamps, the mysterious flickering of which is crucial to the plot of a psychologically abused Victorian wife left alone each night in an eerily fog-bound London house. Not until far too late, until Bella Manningham (Pike) actually draws our attention to it, do we notice anything remiss about the light levels. Gill and his design team could, and indeed should, have made far more of this, as well as the ghostly footsteps that supposedly resound from upstairs.
Hamilton's writing ensures that even the most dim-witted follower of thrillers remains permanently two revelations ahead of the action. Any line that might cause an iota of doubt is repeated by a second character for good measure. An entire chunk of previous exposition is trotted out again at the end. All of which isn't to say there's no pleasure to be had from the script; there is, but possibly not in the way Hamilton intended. The first night audience guffawed at several particularly cumbersome exchanges, and the laughs increased along with the thunderous predictability of the storyline.
Unlike some of her cast mates Pike, speaking like a lady but projecting like a dream, treats this tosh with the utmost seriousness. She is a revelation as an unconfident, unwillingly medicated young woman, trapped in a very English Doll's House and left to twitter like a nervy songbird around her gilded drawing-room cage. Andrew Woodall unfortunately chooses to play her brute of a husband, a part with the potential to intrigue as much as it repels, as a pantomime villain right from the start; no wonder he received good-natured boos at his curtain call. Kenneth Cranham, once more shrugging on the raincoat of an inspector calling during an evening of portentously foul weather, gently sends the whole thing up, and even managed to slip in a marvellous ad-lib on the subject of whisky. Detective Rough should also have his shady side - his past is sufficiently unclear - but this is yet another missed opportunity for some much-needed nuance.
Funny by Gaslight this might be, but that's nowhere near enough.
Until 18 August. Box Office: 0870 060 6628. www.oldvictheatre.com
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I have not seen the play so I'm not really in a position to question your reviewer, but is it not possible that the director and the design team may have wanted to play down the footsteps and dimming lights so Bella and the audience are unsure if she is imagining things as her mind continues to fracture?
- Kh, Hemel Hempstead, Herts
I must say we saw this play on Saturday (28th July) and it was in our opinion a gripping piece of theatre. We did not want the interval to come as we were so engaged in the performance. Rosamund Pike was as throrough as ever in her portrayal of the abused wife, Kenneth Cranham was excellent as the Inspector and having seen him play Inspector Goole I was impressed how he managed to pull off such a contrasting character - the humour he injected into the part was exquisite and not out of place. As the reviewer said, there were 'boos' for Andrew Woodall which I cannot abide in a plays curtain call. It's not a pantomime for goodness sake! He did indeed play his part with a in the style of a Sherlock Holmes villain but how else was he supposed to play a scheming victorian man? The character was a gentlemen of the period and would have spoken well. He had to inject menace into his delivery so how else was he supposed to sound we ask the reveiwer? We thought he fulfilled the part to a tee. Congratulations to you Mr Woodall. I imagine the pantomime boos and hoorays are as annoying to the cast as to all serious theatre-goers. A word or two on the set - you expect lavish sets with extreme detail in the West End and this was no different. We were treated to not only a very detailed and exact victorian living room but also the hall and dressing room flanking the main set and the distant rooftops and chimneys of houses across the street. Bravo to all concerned. Thoroughly enjoyable!
- Alan Clarke, Luton, UK
