GASLIGHT By Patrick Hamilton
5th to 8th November 2003, Sheffield University Drama Studio

Midland Players Amateur Dramatic Society, Sheffield, UK

A tense gripping tale of obsession and cruelty . In this house of death, Maningham is driving his wife Bell insane. Will she deteriorate into madness like her poor mother, or will Sgt Rough be able to rescue her?

Patrick Hamilton, (1904-1962) novelist and playwright, was the youngest of three children born to Bernard and Ellen Hamilton. A prolific writer, he had more than thirty works published, the most famous being The Rope and Gas Light. He was educated at Holland House School (Hove, Sussex), Colet Court (London), and Westminster School. At the age of seventeen he began work as an actor/assistant stage manager for Andrew Melville.

Hamilton was married twice (Lois Martin, Ursula Stewart). A very bad road accident in 1932, which left him permanently disfigured, is thought to have contributed to his depression and heavy drinking. He died on 23 September 1962 of cirrhosis of the liver and kidney failure. His works deal with murder and violence in atmospheres of menace and malevolence. He had a particular gift of being able to create psychopathic and schizophrenic characters.

J.B. Priestley praised Hamilton’s gift in describing ‘a kind of no-man’s-land of shabby hotels, dingy boarding-houses and all those saloon bars where the homeless can meet’

Susan Oxley