Angel Street

Ladies (and some Gentlemen), if there's a crazy-making, control freak of a man in your life - spouse, family member, authority figure, or boss - you will find much to relate to in Montgomery Playhouse's excellent revival of Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton (1938) being staged at the Kentlands Arts Barn, in Gaithersburg (10/25). Directed by Pauline Griller-Mitchell with an eye towards psychological realism, the production eschews the Victorian gewgaws and moody, melodramatic staging and cuts right to the chase: a battle of wills being waged among three central characters.

Mr. Hamilton's well-made play and lucid writing, combined with the director's often brisk pacing, has a strong narrative pull. First casting its spell over Broadway audiences in the early 1940s where it enjoyed a three-year run and introduced Vincent Price to the public, Angel Street continues to speak a timeless message about the human condition.

This is the third time in about a month that I've viewed a psychopath close-up at the theater and I've learned more about this deviant personality than I would from a 100 hours of Dateline and 20/20. You've probably seen or heard of the 1944 movie version - Gaslight - with it star-studded cast based on the play - it launched the career of Angela Lansbury and garnered an Oscar for Ingrid Bergman - so I doubt if I'm introducing any spoilers. The name itself has worked its way into the language: gaslighting is now known as a form of psychological intimidation to gain control over a victim, and there's a whole slew of strategies employed by the perpetrator, some subtle, others less so, to gain advantage.

The director and her assistant, John Bartkowiak, have been careful to bring the characters along slowly in the first act; but when they come into focus, the full import of the game being played will leave you appalled. A crime has been committed (and one contemplated) - a murder - 15 years ago, in this very house which still hides the object of the killer's attentions and his identity. You'll soon come to realize the culpable party; but the self-assurance of both Mr. Manningham (Joe Kelly) and Inspector Rough (Gordon Adams) as they offer an emotionally troubled Mrs. Manningham (Annette Kalicki) competing versions of reality, might leave some doubt. And what's a murder mystery without a plot-twist?

Mr. Kelly as Manningham (a.k.a. Sydney Power) gives a very Pinteresque turn to his character. At times subtle and restrained, at others exercising power through the use of words - his questions are almost acts of aggression - he's got everything but the whip. His operant conditioning regimen is Pavlovian in nature; one in which he seems to be successfully working on his wife, overtly, with all the missing objects about the house, and unwittingly, with his nightly upstairs escapades and subsequent lowering of the lights. As Mrs. Manningham or Bella, Ms. Kalicki fashions a Woman on the Verge portrayal. Delivered with a manic intensity, at times almost a frenzy, Ms. Kalicki lives the role completely at the edge; she seems like a Eugene O'Neill character, alternating in and out of the external world, while she questions her sanity in asides with her psyche. She is one desperate housewife.

Ms. Adams as Inspector Rough arrives on this cold case via the Victorian Tip Line: neighborhood gossip. He knows everything about the household from the conversations of a pair of servants, the loose lipped, and much befriended Nancy played by Cecilia Bailey with a cocky impudence, and the loyal Elizabeth, a part Joan Roseboom inhabits with conviction. Mr. Adams portrays the inspector in his best bedside manner, taking the emotional pulse of the situation, and giving Bella and the audience the goods on everyone's back story. He jovially and coolly plays the hidden object game with the lady of the house - many, many things from the past turn up - until, bingo, the right one is found, just before the master returns home.

Fireworks commence almost immediately. I thought the subtext between Mr. Manningham and Ms. Bailey's characters - class and sex - was not fully realized. Otherwise, the final act played extremely well, with some riveting dramatic showdowns and a most satisfying discovery at the finale. Raising the stakes on the outcome to just the right level of intensity, Ms. Griller-Mitchell gives us a dose of theater at its best: emotional honesty in the characters stripped bare of their defenses and illusions, a sense of justice delivered for those suffering crimes in the past, and hope for the future. The great irony here is Manningham succeeds with his wife all too well; his one chance for freedom results in his wife gaining her own.

Designer Eric Henry has fashioned a pleasing Victorian set with velvet curtain, heavy drapes, comfortable furniture, and wingback chairs using a color palette of red, pink, salmon, and brown, with lavender wallpaper, which the well-selected costumes of Maggie Skekel-Sledge and Joan Roseboom play off to good effect. Lighting of Joy Wyne showcases this tasteful arrangement, but did not capture to any noticeable degree the central motif of the play, the dimming of the gaslights. Patrick and Tara Hughes selected some striking atonal, 20^th century music by Stravinsky and Shostakovich to accentuate the tension and give a sense of foreboding to the coming action; the tolling of Big Ben rang true at appropriate moments. Properties mistress, Margie Henry, along with the directors, found telling pieces to dress the set.

If community theater has not been part of your theatergoing repertoire, you might want to give it some consideration. They're the equivalent of an in-place touring company, regularly cranking out highly serviceable productions right in your backyard (5 minutes from my house by car). They offer an intimate setting - The Arts Barn seats 99 - consistently entertaining shows for ¼ to ½ the cost of a regular play, and all with a cast of highly committed unpaid actors and production teams who do it for the love of the theater. Bravo!

Cast also included Jeff Martinson as the Policeman.

Sound check: Excellent, low to moderate sound levels

Program notes: Good, with director notes and it was refreshing to see a picture of an actor from the actual performance on the cover

Applause meter: Highly recommended, 3 ½ hands

Runtime: 2 hours and 10 minutes with an intermission

Photo credits: Kay Coupe