Review: "Angel Street" more howcatchem than whodunit

By Carl Hoover

The unifying suspense of the Waco Civic Theatre's production of the stage mystery "Angel Street" lies more in the how of its ending than the what of its characters.

So while nervous wife Bella Manningham (Margaret Rast) thinks she might be going insane in the London house she and her domineering husband Jack (Bill Mears) share, with pictures, jewelry and other objects seeming to disappear or move, there's another's method in her presumed madness.

Patrick Hamilton's play tips its hand early on once retired police inspector Rough (Jane Brewer) arrives to tell Bella her husband is not what he seems, leaving the main issue for audiences to anticipate as how to catch the villain.

That provides enough dramatic tension to carry the audience to the ending, but one wishes for a plot twist or two to carry the play beyond a mild, straight-forward mystery. Those familiar with the 1944 movie "Gaslight" will find the movie expands on the play's short time frame of an afternoon and evening, shading the story with more initial doubt and ambiguity.

Director Karen Savage and an effective cast keep the play's pace from sagging, though its nearly two-hour length could stand a little tightening. "Angel Street's" entire action occurs within the Manninghams' living room, but a spacious set design allows characters room to move, avoiding a sense of claustrophobia.

Savage's decision to cast a woman as the inspector provides the play with its most dynamic presence, thanks to Brewer's energetic and forceful performance.

Granted, Hamilton wrote that role with a man in mind, but it still feels a little odd that no character acknowledges, scripted or otherwise, how rare a female police inspector would be in late 19th century London. The wide-legged pants of Brewer's costume compounds that seeming anachronism, contrasted with the smart, period look that costumer Sarah Strohmeyer gives the Manninghams and their servants Nancy (Rachel Leigh Landry) and Elizabeth (Regan Haddock).

Mears' Jack is, at turns, demanding, manipulative, suave, angry and hot-headed. He gives the play its necessary menace, but those disparate emotions lack a underlying connection. Is his anger and abuse a personality trait or a cold, calculated performance to drive his wife to distraction? If the former, what explains the charisma his character he has with Nancy, who's more than willing to add him to her boyfriends, and presumably with Bella during his courtship of her?

Rast is suitably nervous as the hand-wringing, largely passive Bella, who shows a flash of deserved anger as the play nears its close. Landry and Haddock also fill their roles, Landry as the saucy, seductive housemaid loyal to Jack, Haddock as the quieter servant concerned about her house mistress.

"Angel Street" continues through Saturday at the WCT with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Call 776-1591 for ticket information.

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