Deceived - 9780573711398

Bella Manningham thinks she’s losing her mind. In the evenings, she hears strange sounds and the gaslights dim for no apparent reason. But is she losing her grip on reason, or is it being loosened for her? Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play gave us the word we now use for an insidious form of mental abuse. This new adaptation from Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson is a gripping thriller: Will the gaslight have its intended, murderous, effect? From the authors’ introduction to the play: “In Angel Street, a police inspector explains the mystery to [Bella] while she reacts with surprise and dismay. Bella does a lot of listening in the play, but doesn’t have the opportunity to take much action… Our version starts off much the same as the original. But part way through something changes, something that puts Bella at the heart of a story many of us are living right now, in one way or another. No spoilers here, but in this version there is no police inspector. No one is coming to save Bella. The question is, can she find the strength to save herself?” – Johnna Wright & Patty Jamieson, 2022