'Deceived' at Bay Street Theater Reimagines 'Gaslight' Through a 21st Century Lens

Thanks to playwright Patrick Hamilton, the term “gaslighting” has become a permanent part of the American lexicon. While younger people may not know that the modern definition of the word has its origins in the theater, almost everyone understands what it means.

As the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, gaslighting is the process of “manipulating someone using psychological methods into questioning their own sanity or powers of reasoning.”

What was once a humble term that describes a Victorian Era lighting fixture is now almost universally understood to refer to a destructive mind game.

The play responsible for that transformation opened in London in 1938 under the two-world title Gas Light. Three years later, it had a successful run on Broadway under Hamiltion’s original title, Angel Street. The American public became much more familiar with Hamilton’s thriller in 1944, when the critically acclaimed film adaptation premiered as Gaslight, now shortened to one word.

Deceived, Bay Street Theater’s potent new production running through July 20 in Sag Harbor, is a Gaslight for modern audiences. Adapted from Hamiltion’s original Angel Street script by Canadian playwrights Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson and sure-handedly directed by Sheryl Kaller, the play makes it clear that the concept of gaslighting as a weapon is particularly relevant today.

Set in 1901 – about 15 years or so later than Angel Street – Wright and Jamieson’s adaptation reimagines the story, focusing more on Bella Manningham (Olivia Cygan), the play’s central character. Their script removes the character of the inspector, who provided most of the play’s sleuthing and exposition in Hamilton’s original version. The authors’ new script presents Bella as a more empowered, more contemporary stage heroine.

“In Angel Street… Bella does a lot of listening, but she doesn’t have the opportunity to take much action,” the authors wrote in their production notes in 2022, when their adaptation premiered. “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?”

Things certainly feel grim as the play opens. Bella is essentially helpless. It won’t give anything away to say that it’s obvious from the get-go that she is being manipulated by her husband, Jack (Sam Gravitte), a striving businessman decked out in garish, tight-fitting clothes and oozing an oily insouciance masquerading as concern for Bella’s well-being.

As Jack, Gravitte squeezes as much humanity as he can out of a character that is essentially a one-trick pony – an uncool dude with transparently nefarious intentions barely hidden beneath a patina of semi-respectability – until almost the very end of the play. In the final 10 minutes or so of a very tight 90-minute show, Gravitte does his best work as Jack goes through some serious changes, some of which he can control, others of which he most assuredly can’t.

In a particularly well-blocked and well-acted scene near the climax, Jack circles Bella in an attempt to menace her into submission. She gives ground, but won’t be defeated. Still, the play’s central question remains: Can Bella muster up what it takes to save herself from a man intent on gaslighting her for reasons that won’t become clear to her until later – a man who, true to the time period, can easily have her committed to an insane asylum anytime he chooses?

Often, the ways in which a character evolves over the course of a play provide the most rewarding moments – both for the actor and for the audience. While the script calls for Jack to undergo some fairly abrupt changes, Bella’s transformation is much more gradual and rewarding.

In Cygan’s hands, Bella’s journey from victim to empowered avenger is thrilling. And as co-authors Wright and Jamieson intended when they created their adaptation, Bella serves as the axis upon which the entire production rotates.

As she pieces together the details of a puzzle that the audience has mostly solved long before she has, Cygan emits a confused vulnerability that slowly morphs into suspicious inquiry, then finally, into Hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned mode. Along the way, she makes the abject injustice Bella is suffering at the hands of her husband feel incredibly visceral.

One might fault Bella for falling for such an obvious cad in the first place – and for taking as long as she does to figure the whole thing out and start fighting for herself. But she’s a character who’s very easy to root for, especially as portrayed by a young performer with the kind of acting chops Cygan brings to the table.

The solid four-person cast is rounded out by Mary Bacon as Elizabeth, an older housekeeper who had worked for the previous owner of the house, and Briana Carlson-Goodman as Nancy, a young, newly-hired housekeeper. While the play is focused on Bella and Jack’s toxic relationship, both housekeepers are crucial components of the story.

Carlson-Goodman’s Nancy is a brash young temptress who tries (and fails) to use Jack to get what she wants even as Jack tries (and fails) to take advantage of her youth and inexperience. Their relationship isn’t fully explored, but rather, inferred. Carlson-Goodman and Gravitte do a nice job of creating just a bit of unholy chemistry in the limited time on stage they share together.

Elizabeth has seen a few things. including the mysterious goings-on that ultimately led to the death of the previous owner of the house. And of course, she’s been an up-close-and-personal observer of Jack’s particular brand of gaslighting since the young couple moved in. While she isn’t a willing participant in Jack’s schemes, she is something of an unwitting enabler, at least for a while.

Bacon imbues Elizabeth with a kind of world-weary wisdom and patience, tinged with more than a touch of guilt. She nails the venerable housekeeper’s working class English accent and her obvious loyalty to her employers. And when things get dicey and Elizabeth is called on to choose a side and act forcefully, Bacon clearly relishes the opportunity to drop the guise of civility and kick a little ass.

Deceived, which was adapted by two female playwrights and directed by a woman, is at its core a play about female empowerment. Bella and the housekeepers (i.e., all three females in the play) share a crucial character trait. Ultimately, they all refuse to be manipulated or victimized by Jack, the play’s lone male character. And in their way, each of them refuses to be controlled by his gaslighting.

Whether in the political arena or in the minefield of interpersonal relationships, gaslighting as a conscious psychological strategy has become an all-too-common part of the playbook for those who wish to assert dominance, particularly when the dynamics include a man in a position of power over a woman. Using a play that’s been around for the better part of a century as a jumping off point, Bay Street Theater’s latest production has plenty to say about that topic.

For tickets and info about Deceived at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor (1 Bay Street), visit baystreet.org