What a joy it was to have Judson Theatre Company’s November 2023 production of Gaslight (Angel Street) by Patrick Hamilton so well-received! This 1938 thriller still works like gangbusters for a contemporary audience of all ages. All the audience feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and our ticket sales proved audiences are still familiar with the title.
Judson Theatre Company was indeed most fortunate to have an excellent cast for this production, led by Lauren Grace Thompson and Matthew Tyler as the Manninghams. In solid support were Jennifer Hope as Elizabeth, Brooklynn Morgan as Nancy, and Elliot Lerner as the Policeman.
And special mention must be made of our headliner Maxwell Caulfield, who played Inspector Rough: an excellent actor and one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with.
Lauren Grace Thompson and Maxwell Caulfield in GASLIGHT at Judson Theatre Company
Perhaps most interesting was how many audience members approached me, or someone else working on the show, with their own personal stories of being “gaslit” in their relationships or in their workplace. It’s natural at any play to identify with the emotional struggles of the characters you’re watching—but, as someone who makes theatre all the time, your heart can’t help but go out to an audience member who takes the time to share their personal struggle. Bad things are still happening to good people. Maybe seeing it represented onstage helps them, in some small way, in their ongoing processing of it all.
And to think, when we were first pondering over doing the play, I wondered if a woman-in-danger Victorian thriller would still resonate with a modern crowd!