By: Patrick Hamilton
At: First Folio Shakespeare Festival at Mayslake Hall, 1717 W. 31st, Oak Brook
Phone: 630-986-8067; $25
Through May 6
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
If the title Angel Street means nothing to you, then try replacing it with Gaslight. Film buffs should instantly recognize that title as the classic 1944 George Cukor film that won Ingrid Bergman a Best Actress Oscar and introduced Angela Lansbury to the world of cinema.
Before Gaslight went Hollywood, it started life as Patrick Hamilton's 1939 London stage thriller Angel Street before hopping the pond to Broadway in 1941. First Folio Shakespeare Festival comfortably revives Angel Street in Mayslake Hall on the Tudor-influenced Mayslake Peabody Estate, adding immeasurably to the period feel of this aging but sturdy drama.
All is not well in the Manningham household, located on London's Angel Street circa 1880. The missus is constantly being hounded by her patriarchal and domineering husband over her forgetfulness and 'willful dishonesty.' It seems that insanity runs in the wife's family, and Mr. Manningham uses it to his advantage to play mental games on his hysterical spouse.
Lucky for Mrs. Manningham, a plucky Scottish investigator going by the name of Sergeant Rough bounds in to reveal a sinister plot that might put her life in danger. But will Mrs. Manningham trust this over-informed stranger over her own husband, abusive though he may be?
Angel Street can be seen as a precursor to stage thrillers like Sleuth and Deathtrap that used to be all the rage on Broadway 35 years ago. Perhaps that's why Angel Street disappoints a tad when the shocking twists and turns we expect don't fully materialize. Still, the show does expose the gender inequities of the Victorian age, while the isolation Mr. Manningham employs over his wife also can be seen in many abusive relationships today.
For pure entertainment value, Angel Street revels as a melodramatic exercise for actors employing British accents to gnash up the scenery, which they do with appropriate gusto under Alison C. Vesely's sound direction for First Folio.
With his black beard and sneering gaze, Michael Weber certainly cuts a dashing figure as the suspect, Mr. Manningham. Melanie Keller, as his wedded victim, whips up the ever-so-proper fear of a Victorian woman in distress by equally measure.
As Rough, Mark Douglas-Jones didn't quite have all the humor and the rhythms down of an eccentric investigator on opening night, but the potential is there. Jeny Waslewski has fun as saucy servant Nancy, while Mary Redmon's Elizabeth could have used a tad more defiance behind her deferential nodding.
Designers Vicky Strei ( costumes ) and Angela Miller ( sets ) help dress up First Folio's Angel Street into a pleasurable period mystery to get caught up in, which makes for a pleasant excuse to visit this suburban mansion estate-turned forest preserve. The twists and turns might be missing, but First Folio's Angel Street is still worth a stroll.
