SAPL Play Reading Group: Gas Light

It’s been a little while since our last play reading, but we are starting up again with the aim of making this event a regular one. We have chosen to kick off with Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton. We have borrowed a set of these plays, so just turn up on the day and we’ll divide up the parts so everyone gets a chance to read.

Gas Light is one of the best and most well-known thrillers written for the stage. It is set in a large and gloomy house in Victorian London. Bella is anxious. Her husband, Jack, is domineering and overbearing, and she is puzzled by his frequent disappearances from the house. In particular, she does not understand why the gas lights keep dimming. He tries to persuade her that it is her imagination and that she is going insane. It is from this play that the term ‘gaslighting’ has come to be used to describe this form of psychological abuse.

Interval after second act. Drinks available from vending machine. Biscuits provided by SAPL