**** Gaslighting is a manipulative psychological tactic that causes individuals to question their reality, memories, and perceptions, often leading to confusion and self-doubt. Many of you have probably heard the term before, but did not have the definition that makes it easy to understand. The 1944 film entitled “Gaslight” was in fact based on Patrick Hamilton’s “Gaslight (Angel Street) where a husband (Mr. Manningham ( a strong performance by Sam Fain) does small things with the intent of convincing his wife, Mrs. Manningham ( played to perfection by Megan Kueter) that she is going mad.

In this modern version, strongly directed by Susan Gorman on a wonderful set designed by Spencer Donovan ( amazing what Oil Lamp Theatre can do on their very small stage) we get far more psychological manipulation with very little physical cruelty. I am okay with that and the fact is Gorman gets the job done. We see the stress that Bella is facing and we also see that she is unaware that her husband has a lover on staff.

The staff is composed of that lover, Nancy ( Charlotte Jaffe) and Elizabeth ( Dina Monk).. If you watch closely you will see that Elizabeth is part of the plan. The final character in this tense thriller is Rough ( a powerful characterization played by James Sparling). When he first appears, Bella is not quite sure of his stories, but as we watch the story unfurl, we begin to see just how deep his plan is.

Items missing or misplaced? Lights flickering? Lights dimming on their own? If you have some of these particular things taking place in your life, look around, as you might be being “Gaslit”. The crew at Oil Lamp do a great job of making Hamilton’s story come alive on their intimate stage. Rachel D. Hemm’s lighting is perfect and the costumes by Taylor Pfenning are very fitting of the period. The play is still taking on the identity of England, thus we do have to go through accents. Since there is no real mention of why it “must” be in England, I would love to see this play Americanized and let the actors speak our English. To be honest,  I think audiences might prefer this. The props, many of which are quite important to this story are handled by Ellen Markus and Rick Reid handles the sound.

The play is roughly 2 hours with one 15 minute intermission. Oil Lamp is a very intimate space so you can consider attending one of their productions as a night out with 60 of your newest friends. They do have a bar and of course, they always offer the chocolate chip cookies from Misericordia’s bakery. Yummy! The theater is located at 1723 West Glenview Road ( just west of Waukegan Road) and street parking s pretty easy to find. You can also use the valet parking next door ( at no charge) just tell them you are attending the theater.

“Gaslight (Angel Street) will continue Thru – Nov 2nd with performances as follows: