![\"Tania](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/thumbnail_Tania-Getty-Jaxon-Duff-Gwillim-Photo-by-James-Morris-1-e1750881794627.jpg\")
<\/a>Tania Getty and Jaxon Duff Gwillim. Photo by James Morris, as is the one above.<\/p><\/div>\n
I\u2019m also happy to have seen this show\u00a0so that I have a legitimate reason to correct everyone who uses the term \u201cto gaslight someone\u201d wrong!!! (I\u2019ll get to that later.)<\/p>\n
I had erroneously thought that the Oscar-nominated 1944 American film was the very first version of this eerie tale. But I\u2019ve now learned that it was actually a play<\/em> first, (with its title being two words, Gas Light.<\/em>) It enjoyed a very successful run on Broadway, being\u00a0one of the longest-running plays in history, with almost thirteen hundred total performances!<\/p>\n I\u2019m such a fan of intrigue, so Gaslight<\/em> is right up my alley. The basic plot\u00a0is that a Victorian husband in London tries to make his wife think she\u2019s crazy, with the reason for that gradually being revealed. That\u2019s all you need to know. And that all of the action takes place in just one day and night, even though the culmination\u00a0was a long time coming for the characters. (I do have to say that the hours<\/em> portrayed are actually a tad confusing, but it doesn\u2019t really matter; I just went with it.)<\/p>\n Jaxon Duff Gwillim. Photo by Phil Cass.<\/p><\/div>\n I suggest you do not\u00a0<\/em>see one of the films, nor look up the play, before you see this<\/em> rendition, so you can experience the drama as it unfolds. And then watch at least one of the movies later on to discern the differences. That\u2019s actually just what I<\/em> did, since I didn\u2019t remember everything about the old movie. Because the entire topic really piqued my interest, I sought-out the 1940 British<\/em>\u00a0film, (which I had never even heard<\/em> of before,) a couple of days after seeing this play. And, as much as I love old black-and-white psychological dramas, I must say that I actually enjoyed this play much more! So, good for you, Pacific Resident Theatre!<\/p>\n What makes the complicated scenario easy to follow in this\u00a0<\/em>production is that the cast of five all have excellent, and more importantly,\u00a0understandable<\/em>, English accents, each one showing their position in life. Not one time did anyone in the opening night audience have to whisper, \u201cWhat did they say?,\u201d to their seat-mate, which just might be a first!<\/p>\n Stuart W. Howard, as the retired detective, is great; he\u2019s straight out of a \u201940s movie. He does not miss a beat of dialogue while having to engage in tons of what actors refer to as \u201cbusiness.\u201d \u00a0How he continues on with his lines while doing so much physical work is something special to behold. Jaxon Duff Gwillim, who plays the maniacal husband, (and reminds me a bit of both Rex Harrison and Cyril Ritchard,) is just the right amount of scary and creepy. Tania Getty,\u00a0as the unfortunate victimized\u00a0wife, valiantly does the heavy lifting of the quintet, and I loved her fast way of speaking; it\u2019s so Gene Tierney! Rita Obermeyer and Miranda Wynne, as\u00a0the two maids, add sufficiently to the narrative.<\/p>\n Tania Getty and Stuart W. Howard. Photo by James Morris.<\/p><\/div>\n I don\u2019t know if Gaslight<\/em> is produced here exactly as written by Patrick Hamilton in 1938, or if any adjustments were made for the Pacific Resident\u2019s petite stage. Either way, it works wonderfully. The whole play is done in just one room, so they get to the meat of the matter for the duration, as opposed to at least the British film, if not the American one, which had all kinds of auxiliary scenes, I’m assuming to try to keep the interest of the viewers. But this presentation doesn\u2019t miss that fluff, (such as a music hall scene, complete with a Can-Can,) at all.<\/p>\n Taubert Nadalini\u2019s beautiful set helps a lot. And the tea service dishes used for about half of the presentation made my mouth water, so big props to the prop people! I had to hold myself back from rushing the stage to pour a cuppa for myself!<\/p>\n And I must take note of my absolute favorite line in the script. It\u2019s \u201cDo not imagine you were the only piece of ivy on the garden wall.\u201d I just have to figure-out a way to use it myself.<\/p>\n Jaxon Duff Gwillim and Miranda Wynne. Photo by James Morris.<\/p><\/div>\n Now let\u2019s get to the term \u201cgaslighting,\u201d which this play, and subsequent films, gave us. It\u2019s not used in the narrative,<\/em> of course; it was just coined, from the title and subject, in semi-modern days to reflect what the husband was doing to his wife, and, sadly, what some lunatics are still<\/em> doing to each other. I hope the people who use it somewhat incorrectly these days finally take note of the real\u00a0definition of what \u201cgaslighting\u201d is. In the play, the detective tells the wife, \u201cYou are being slowly and methodically driven out of your mind.\u201d So, to gaslight someone means to manipulate them into questioning their own reality. People seem to overuse it nowadays, and in the wrong ways. They often use it in lieu of other societal terms, such as \u201cghosting,\u201d thinking they\u2019re the same thing, which they definitely are not.<\/p>\n In my post-show research, I actually found-out that the term entered the vernacular in 1961! My<\/em>\u00a0first recollection of anyone using it is in 1998, when Edie Falco\u2019s character in the Broadway play, Side Man<\/em>, tells her husband he\u2019s gaslighting her, and all the Broadway literati loved it.<\/p>\n Before I wind-up this review, I have to say a few words about the lovely personnel at the theater. They were all so kind during intermission when I was having a slight issue with something; several of them, (especially Marilyn Fox, the Artistic Director,) were very willing to help me in any way they could. And the evening began with an absolutely adorable volunteer usher, Pietro, who could not have been more perfect, in every way.<\/p>\n The cast and crew also carried on so well in the face of a major technical problem after the first half. Very admirable.<\/p>\n There\u2019s not a bad seat in the house in this smaller of Pacific Resident\u2019s theatres, but I must advise future audiences, (which I hope everyone in SoCal will be,) that the air-conditioning in the very last row is a bit much. So, if you<\/em> don\u2019t love being cold, perhaps don\u2019t sit in that location when you\u00a0see the show. But it may be perfect in the summer!<\/p>\n Gaslight\u00a0<\/em>running through August 10, 2025<\/strong> GASLIGHT I have to admit that I\u2019ve been\u00a0a bit of a snob about theatre in the past couple of years. Well, not exactly a snob; it\u2019s more that, since\u00a0I have only so much time to devote to reviewing theatre, I\u2019ve been neglecting smaller venues.\u00a0 But when I noticed that this well-thought of theatre in Venice,<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\n Pacific Resident Theatre 703 Venice Blvd. Venice<\/strong>
\n 310-822-8392 www.pacificresidenttheatre.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"