- intouch Magazine
Major Psychological Thriller Gaslight Ignites Newcastle Stage
Set to be one of the most talked about performances of 2024, Gaslight, a modern adaptation of the 1940s suspenseful thriller by Patrick Hamilton and starring Geraldine Hakewill, Toby Schmitz and Kate Fitzpatrick, will perform at Newcastle’s Civic Theatre from 19 to 23 June as part of a national tour
The highly anticipated play, set in 1901 London but adapted by Canadian writer/ performers Patty Jamieson and Johnna Wright in 2022, is directed by Lee Lewis and produced by Rodney Rigby for Newtheatricals, who also produced Come From Away, and Queensland Theatre.
Hakewill’s Bella Manningham is a young wife who seemingly has it all - a lovely home and a comfortable upper-middle-class life. Her housekeepers, Elizabeth, played by Fitzpatrick, and Nancy attend to her and help run the household. Her husband, Jack, played by Schmitz, appears attentive and loving. So why is Bella on edge?
Despite his doting appearance, Jack is hiding something. He keeps disappearing in the evenings …and after he leaves, Bella hears strange sounds in the house. Is Bella losing her grip on reality? Or is something more sinister afoot?
The much-used word, ‘gaslighting’ — psychologically manipulating people into questioning their own sanity — draws its origins from the play, in which the household’s gas lights flicker and dim in the evenings when Bella is alone, causing her to question her sanity.
Geraldine Hakewill is one of Australia’s best-known theatre and television performers, starring in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Fury, Baal, The Real Thing, Disgraced, Chimerica and Julius Caesar for the Sydney Theatre Company, Peter Pan for Belvoir, which toured to New York, and Macbeth for the Melbourne Theatre Company. Geraldine’s television credits include Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, Wakefield and Wanted, for which she was nominated for a TV Week Logie Award.
Toby Schmitz is a respected writer, director, and actor who was most recently seen on stage in Amadeus for Red Line opposite Michael Sheen. Perth-born, Adelaide-raised Kate Fitzpatrick is an actor and writer who has appeared in plays for just about every major theatre company in Australia and numerous TV and film productions.
Gaslight runs at Newcastle Civic Theatre from 19–23 June. For further information and tickets, visit www.civictheatrenewcastle.com.au.
