A WOMAN becomes convinced she is losing her mind in a taut psychological thriller set in fog-bound Victorian London.

But is Bella Manningham really going mad as her mother did before her – or does the terror only exist on her imagination?

It could be that her home holds darker secrets than Mrs Manningham ever dreamed of, as audiences for Breakaleg Productions’ performances of Gaslight, by Patrick Hamilton, at Abingdon’s Unicorn Theatre in Checker Walk will discover.

The year is 1880 and Mrs Manningham, played by Janie Eyre-Brook, lives with her husband Jack (Jim Cottrell) in their lower middle-class abode, where they are waited on by housekeeper Elizabeth (Jenny Shepherd) and Nancy the maid (Gemma Kitching).

However, what disturbs Mrs Manningham are her husband’s unexplained disappearances from the house.

With him refusing to tell her where he is going, her anxiety spirals.

Haunted by the flickering gas light and creaking floorboards, it takes the appearance of a detective called Rough (David Fardon) to help resolve Mrs Manningham’s puzzle over her constantly disappearing husband.

Backing up Rough as a policeman is former Herald Series sub-editor Peter Bradley.

Breakaleg’s director Deidre Jones said: “It has taken some time to get the performing rights for Gaslight and I am very pleased to be presenting it at last with the BreakaLeg team.

“A small cast means that some of the actors have had many lines to learn and they have worked very hard to get them under their belts.”

As well as his police officer role, Bradley is responsible for the production’s sound, and the lighting is co-ordinated by John Bradford.

The British dramatist Hamilton’s 1938 play and its subsequent film adaptations gave rise to the term “gaslighting”, meaning “a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented to the victim with the intent of making him/her doubt his/her own memory and perception”.

Hamilton (1904–1962) was a novelist as well as a playwright and wrote 13 novels and seven plays, including two for radio. He was well regarded by fellow novelists Graham Greene and J B Priestley, and his novels have been the subject of study because of their distinctive style, deploying a Dickensian-style narrative voice to convey aspects of inter-war London street life.

The play is being performed from Wednesday to Saturday, March 11 to 14, at 7.30pm. Tickets at £7 for Wednesday and Thursday and £8.50 for Friday and Saturday are available from The Bookstore, in Bury Street shopping precinct, Abingdon, or by post from BreakaLeg Box Office, 40 Castle Street, Steventon, OX13 6SR.

For inquiries, call 01235 821351 or email the amateur drama group at info@BreakaLegProductions.co.uk