GASLIGHT is a modern adaptation of the 1940’s suspenseful thriller by Patrick Hamilton and starring Geraldine Hakewill, Toby Schmitz and Kate Fitzpatrick.
It opens at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre from June 25 to 30, prior to the August performance at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre.
Set in 1901 London, yet remains compellingly relevant today, as the original source of the term ‘gaslighting’.
It is directed by acclaimed director Lee Lewis and produced by Rodney Rigby for Newtheatricals (Come From Away, Jersey Boys, Good Night, Oscar on Broadway starring Tony Award winner Sean Hayes) and Queensland Theatre.
Gaslight has been adapted by respected Canadian writer and performers Patty Jamieson and Johnna Wright and world premiered at the internationally renowned Shaw Festival in Canada in 2022.
Gaslight opened its Australian tour in Brisbane in February to standing ovations and Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre.
The play was also shown at Canberra Theatre Centre, Regal Theatre in Perth, and Newcastle’s Civic Centre
Lead actor Geraldine Hakewill is one of Australia’s best-known theatre and television performers who has starred in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Fury, Baal, The Real Thing, Disgraced, Chimerica and Julius Caesar for the Sydney Theatre Company, and Peter Pan for Belvoir, among others.
In her role in Wanted, Geraldine was nominated for a TV Week Logie for Most Outstanding Newcomer.
Toby Schmitz is a respected writer, director and actor who was most recently seen on stage in Amadeus for Red Line opposite Michael Sheen.
Toby received Helpmann Award Nominations for his performances in Thyestes, Much Ado About Nothing and Ruben Guthrie, and Sydney Theatre Award Nominations for Howie The Rookie, The Great and Ruben Guthrie.
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 as well as numerous TV and film productions.
Her extensive theatre credits include Arcadia (Queensland Theatre), The Recruiting Officer (Melbourne Theatre Company) and Hamlet on Ice, among others.
She portrayed Jenny Diver in Jim Sharman’s The Threepenny Opera, which opened the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre, The Comedy of Errors, Don in Don Juan, Marguerite Gautier in The Lady of the Camelias, and Marilyn Monroe in Insignificance (Playbox / Malthouse Theatre).
In summer 1983-1984, Kate became the world’s first female cricket commentator on Nine Network.
Kate was also awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal for services to the theatre.
The play is about Bella Manningham, a young wife who seemingly has it all: a nice home and a comfortable upper-middle class life. Her housekeepers, Elizabeth and Nancy, attend to her and help run the household.
Her husband, Jack, appears attentive and loving. So why is Bella on edge? As we learn more about the Manningham household, it becomes clear that something is amiss.
To book your tickets, visit https://riversideparramatta.com.au/whats-on/gaslight/
Image: The award-winning actor Geraldine Hakewill stars in the modern adaptation of the suspense-thriller play Gaslight at Riverside Theatre this month.
