Capitol Summer closes with psychological thriller
By Cecilia Nasmith
The final presentation in a stellar Summer Season at Port Hope's Capitol Theatre comes Aug. 22, opening night for a psychological thriller called Gaslight.
Most famous as the 1944 film that won Ingrid Bergman a Best Actress Oscar, it was originally based on a 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton. It follows the tortured journey of young Bella Manningham, who begins to doubt her own sanity as she starts to hear strange sounds and see the gas lights dim for no apparent reason. And suffice it to say that her husband isn't making things any better for her.
Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster is thrilled to have that Ingrid Bergman role. She viewed the movie recently and is a fan.
If the title calls the term “gaslighting” to mind – as Lancaster puts it, “what we call that form of manipulative abuse, forcing someone to doubt their own thoughts about something and feeding them untruths” - yes, that's where the term derives from (though, given the vintage of the movie, few people make the connection).
“A lot of young people use that term and really have no idea where it's coming from,” she said.
“In a funny way, you could make the argument that the play is one of the most impactful plays of the 20th century, given the impact on our language.”
The version on the Capitol stage is the 2022 adaptation of the Patrick Hamilton play by Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson that gives Bella much more agency than the movie version does.
“In the movie version, she gets saved by a male detective who shows up in the last part and reveals the gaslighting to her,” Lancaster pointed out.
“In this version, Bella really puts the pieces together herself.
“It keeps all the intrigue and all that heightened period atmosphere, but the female character just has a little more to do.”
The story is set in 1901 Victorian-era England, when the amenity of gaslighting one's house was a relative recent modern convenience.
“The play has that theatrical element of everything happening in one room, the sitting room of this Victoria rowhouse, over the course of a few days,” she said. It provides a powerful pressure-cooker ambience, as Bella struggles – along with the audience – to determine what is real, what is within her control and what is not.
She has so little agency as the play begins, but it's the start of an astounding journey on which she takes the audience along.
“It's always fun to do a period piece,” Lancaster declared – “all the great costumes, the set. They're being designed and built in Port Hope right now.”
Lancaster first played at the Capitol years ago as part of a touring production of The Dining Room. And she was part of last summer's Capitol season as director of Steel Magnolias.
“I had such a good time. It's great to be back working with the Capitol team. They are fantastic – a really high level of professionalism, a really high level of detail, really high standards to everything they do. I was really thrilled to get the chance to come back,” she said.
A Toronto resident, Lancaster has grown to love Port Hope.
“Such a beautiful town! Everybody's so nice. The feeling of community that surrounds this theatre is really palpable. There's a sense of pride about having a theatre with such high-quality work going on that's really inspiring.
“What (artistic director) Rob Kempson is doing, I feel, is a model for theatres in small towns, the way he's built up this sense of community engagement with the theatre.”
She's also excited for another chance to hit Port Hope's legendary thrift stores.
Playing the lead,Lancaster is joined by Darren Martens as Jack, Mallory James as Nancy and Glynis Ranney as Elizabeth.
Following the traditional pay-what-you-can preview night on Aug. 21, the show opens Aug. 22 and runs through Sept. 6. Every Thursday performance features a Talkback time after the show, with a relaxed performance Aug. 30 and Indigenous Community Night Aug. 28.
