TERROR BY GASLIGHT
by Tim Kelly
November 8-30, 2024
Directed by Barbara Larose
Producer: Bridget Jankowski
About the play:
The action takes place in nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where Dr. Cyrus Norton, a brilliant but eccentric surgeon, is creating an “anatomical museum” to further his standing as a recognized expert on anatomy and dissection. The problem is that he needs cadavers, and by law these can only be obtained from the public gallows, so he is forced to deal with the unsavory Gin Hester and her sinister partner, Scrubbs, two grave robbers and body-snatchers who have little concern about where the corpses come from.
In fact, in their zeal to practice their lucrative trade, the two soon bring suspicion on Dr. Norton and his household: his devoted daughter, who wants to follow in her father’s footsteps; his vapid spinster sister; and his eager assistant, a young doctor who has fallen in love with the daughter.
Chills mount as one eerie scene follows another, and the persistent police detective assigned to the case moves nearer to learning the truth about the blackmail and the murders engendered by the doctor’s obsession.
Filled with suspense and sudden shocks, this cleverly constructed thriller will both enthrall and terrify an audience as it traces its macabre tale of body-snatching, explosive jealousies and murder.
About Tim Kelly, the playwright:
Kelly (1931-1998) is often regarded as the most-published playwright in America, with over 300 titles to his credit under both his real name and at least four pseudonyms (Vera Morris, J. Moriarty, Robert Swift, Keith Jackson). At one point, one of his publishers was licensing about 3,000 Kelly productions worldwide a year. Many of his plays, like Les Miserables, M*A*S*H and The Uninvited, are adaptations of novels, films. or television series, although he also wrote a host of parodies a well as original scripts and musical libretti. His plays have been performed off-Broadway and by such companies as the Royal Court Rep, the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) and Seattle Rep, and by university and community theatres around the world.
About Barbara Larose, the director…
Barbara studied theatre at Concordia University and has worked as a Director, Actor, Dramaturge, and Acting Coach for many years. For Village Players she has directed A.A. Milne’s comedy Mr. Pim Passes By for Village Players in 2015. Evelyn Strange by Stewart Lemoine in 2017 and A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters in 2021.
Directing credits elsewhere include: String of Pearls by Michelle Lowe, Sharon Pollock’s Blood Relations, and James Reaney’s The Killdeer, Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Michel Tremblay’s The Real World?, Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson, Margaret Edison’s Wit, and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound and After Magritte, all at the Alumnae Theatre. She has also directed plays in several New Ideas Festivals and several shows at the Toronto Fringe, including Life in the Raw which she also wrote with partner, Rick Jones, and Seeking Refuge in the 2017 Fringe – a critically-acclaimed musical written by Rick.
Village Players 