Hedgerow Theatre presents 'Angel Street (Gaslight)'

Then I heard that daring director Cara Blouin [ed. note: Blouin is a Broad Street Review contributor] would stage it for Hedgerow, and I instantly changed my mind. I knew she wouldn't be content to play Gaslight as a hoary standard, and I was right.

A fresh approach

Blouin’s production slims the three-act script to a quick-moving two acts, and instead of setting it in 1880 London, she places it in 1924 Philadelphia, before all homes converted from gas lighting to electric. More significantly, she changes avuncular detective Rough into a young trouser-wearing black-haired detective, played by Brittany Holdahl with fearless ferocity that has a ripple effect — or, rather, propels this wheezy play into the present with tsunami force.

Jennifer Summerfield plays Bella, who is being “gaslighted” by her husband Jack, played with unctuous charm by Jared Reed. Bella’s frail state of mind results from his sly manipulation, as we soon see. This production gives us no room to wonder if Bella could be insane, as her late mother was. He’s pushed her to the brink of a breakdown by convincing her she’s done bizarre things like removing pictures from walls and hiding them. He offers the treat of going to a play, then snatches it away because of her supposed transgressions.

She’s at her wits’s end when Rough appears, filling in exposition for Bella and for us — details best not revealed here, except to say that Rough tries to show Bella she’s not insane, and that Jack is her enemy. “You’re slowly, methodically, deliberately being drawn out of your mind,” she explains, giving victimized Bella some much-needed hope.

A woman’s touch

Designer Sarah Mitchell costumes Rough in a black suit — a nod to the times, perhaps, when a woman doing what's considered a man's job would dress like a man — and awkward heeled boots that undermine her credibility. Still, Holdahl gives Rough convincing confidence. When Rough needs to pick a lock, she uses a hairpin. When Bella needs a drink, Rough produces a flask of scotch. More important, while Bella typifies the period's dependent, subservient woman, she's inspired to take control of her life not after a pitying man’s encouragement, but through Rough's example. Rough asks, "You're the lady who's going off her head, aren't you?" with a refreshing disdain for the concept.

When Jack finally meets Rough, he sneers with contempt; to him, she's just another woman to be manipulated, intimidated, or overpowered, as he does in suspenseful scenes with precocious maid Nancy (Allison Bloechl) and Bella's silent ally, housekeeper Elizabeth (Susan Wefel).

Blouin accomplishes all this with few changes other than pronouns and an incisive new final moment, creating fresh tension in a play that sorely needs it. I stage managed a production over 30 years ago in which the director, desperate for some action, added a climactic gun battle punctuated by a bullet-shattered vase (which, half the time, failed to work); flashy business is no substitute for genuine drama.

At Hedgerow, Bella’s timely and believable feminist awakening deepens the action in Angel Street (Gaslight). It would really piss off Donald Trump, which is quite a compliment.