MANSFIELD — One gets the notion Scott Woodlee would have relished the opportunity to meet and perhaps counsel Patrick Hamilton.
The 45-year-old pastor of Mohicanville Community Church in Loudonville plays a lead role in the British playwright’s “Angel Street (Gaslight),” a psychological drama at the Mansfield Playhouse that opens Friday night.
Hamilton wrote the 1938 thriller during a tough time in his life.
In 1932, Hamilton was hit by a drunk driver and dragged through the streets of London, leaving him with a limp, a paralyzed arm, and a disfigured face. Two years later, Hamilton’s mother took her own life.
Set in 1880s London, Hamilton’s play is a dark tale of a marriage based on deceit and trickery, and a husband committed to driving his wife insane in order to steal from her.
‘It’s an incredibly difficult role’
Woodlee portrays that husband, Jack Manningham, who attempts to gaslight his wife, Bella, played by Jamie Stima.
His character’s thoughts and behavior flies in the face of Woodlee’s own beliefs and life’s work helping others.
“It’s an incredibly difficult role and I really appreciate everybody in the cast helping me get through it and find it,” said Woodlee, who made his Playhouse debut in April in “Catch Me If You Can.”
The New York native said he was intrigued by one of his character’s lines.
“Manningham says it’s a superb sensation to play a part and find yourself totally submerged in the role of someone else,” Woodlee said.
“To begin to kind of understand how different psyches work and be able to kind of play with that and to see it from the other perspective.
“I think it can help me even in my own job, of helping to understand some of the devious ways that we all humans are,” Woodlee said.
‘Angel Street (Gaslight)’ perfect for Halloween
In a Mansfield Playhouse community theater venue on East Third Street known for producing comedies, “Angel Street (Gaslight)” is reminiscent of “The Bad Seed” done on the same stage in October 2015.
The Halloween-season timing for the show was intentional, according to Doug Wertz, the Playhouse artistic director.
“It is not a comedy. And good theater’s always a risk,” he said. “People want to laugh all the time.
“But this is a very good story, especially from the psychological aspect of it. The audience comes to realize what is going on, as well.
“To be able to find a show that will draw somebody’s interest is tough because it’s drama, so you really have to pay attention to the way it’s written. But I really like the story,” Wertz said.
Galley of images from “Angel Street (Gaslight)”
The play, which opened in London in 1938, has been adapted into two movies and remains one of the longest-running non-musicals in Broadway history with 1,295 performances.
It’s the story of the Manninghams, who live on Angel Street in 19th century London in what appears to be Victorian-era tranquility.
Minutes after the curtain opens, however, that tranquility begins to peel back like the layers of an onion, largely based on Manningham’s mental domination of his wife.
“I think in in our day and age where truth is (under attack) and evil is subversive … to kind of catch yourself up into a play, to begin to see that and have the mental acuity to kind of just work it through, watch what’s going on. … I think it’s a good mental exercise for all of us,” Woodlee said.
“I think it’s a valuable thing just as much as comedy. I think it’s important to explore the other side as well.
“Without the dark side, the light side is kind of mediocre,” he said.
From a queen to … insane?
A month ago, Stima was playing the queen in the musical “Cinderella” at the Playhouse. It’s been a quick transition for the 30-year-old actress, a 2011 graduate of St. Peter’s High School.
“I was not anticipating dedicating quite this many weeknights of my life,” Stima said with a laugh.
“I’m definitely looking forward to becoming an audience member again for the next couple of shows and watching other talent take the stage.
“That is one of my favorite parts of the playhouse is we all kind of rotate through the shows. No one is the star of the whole organization. There’s so much talent in Mansfield to go around, so I’m really looking forward to supporting a bit more again,” Stima said.
It’s the first non-musical Stima has attempted on stage.
“I’ve only done operas or musicals and I’m always cast as either a comedic character or a fun character.
“I just loved the idea of being in a play that was a drama that was a little bit more serious and just completely out of my comfort zone. I really was attracted to the challenge of it,” Stima said.
“It has been a big journey for me on stage trying to embody a woman who truly believes that she is going insane because of all the things that she thinks is going on, but having her husband telling her that, ‘No, you’re just imagining it. You always overthink things. It’s always in your head.’
“Embodying that anxiety was a huge challenge. But I found that I’ve really enjoyed kind of portraying what that can look like for different people and how that can be expressed in different moments and with different people,” Stima said.
Origins of the word ‘gaslight’ helped draw interest
Daniel O’Brien returns to the Playhouse stage as Detective Rough from Scotland Yard, a wily investigator who comes to help Mrs. Manningham deal with a husband he suspects has a sinister past.
“I’ve done quite a few shows here since my youth and I’ve been getting into plays more, obviously,” the 31-year-old Richland County Board of Elections employee said.
“I started out more with musicals and still do some of that. But I like these serious plays because I think that they give a different outlook on life,” said O’Brien, seen most recently at the Playhouse in “The Mouse Trap” in 2020.
O’Brien said the script attracted him to the show.
“When I learned about some of the history of the role itself with the origin of the term ‘gaslight,’ that’s what initially piqued my curiosity.
“Doug said it was a melodrama, with some thematic elements sort of akin to Halloween and spookiness, and he’s trying to convince her that she’s insane.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this sounds interesting.’ So I auditioned and I wasn’t sure what part I was going to get, obviously, or if I was going to get one.
“When Doug asked if I would play Inspector Rough, I said ‘Absolutely.’
“Angel Street (Gaslight)” cast
Scott Woodlee as Jack Manningham
Jamie Stima as Bella Manningham
Daniel O’Brien as Detective Rough
Jill Cochran as Elizabeth
Hannah Oberlin as Nancy
Adrian Burns as a police officer
Josie Burns as a police officer
Ticket information
The show takes place at the Mansfield Playhouse on Oct. 20, 21, 27 & 28 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 29 at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets for “Angel Street (Gaslight)” are $13 or adults, $12 for seniors (62 and over) and $8 for students (12 and under).
Tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 419-522-2883 Wednesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and one hour prior to all performances.
Tickets may also be purchased online at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/playhouse/3818.
