Gaslight - Premiere

Patrick Hamilton GASLIGHT - a psychological thriller

London, 1880: After moving into their new house, Bella and Jack Manningham find Bella questioning her sanity. Why do the gaslights flicker constantly in the evenings? Why do objects disappear from the living room? Is she suffering from the same mental illness that once confined her mother to an institution? Her husband Jack only intensifies these fears.

As Bella's condition threatens to worsen, a stranger appears - a supposedly retired Scotland Yard commissioner named William Rough. He has been searching for years for a fugitive murderer who killed an elderly woman in the Manninghams' living room to steal her jewels, and is certain the killer will return to the crime scene. Who is this man? Who is the murderer? Whom can Bella trust?

The play premiered in London in 1938 and was adapted into a film in 1944 starring Ingrid Bergman under the title "The Gaslight Affair". The term "gaslighting" for a form of psychological manipulation and emotional abuse originates from this work. At the Altes Schauspielhaus, the psychological thriller is now being staged for the first time in a production by intendant Axel Preuß.

Performances from 18 September to 24 October 2026

Cast: Felician Hohnloser, Andreas Klaue, Annette Mayer, Hannah Sophie Schad, Lisa Wildmann
Director Axel Preuß
Set and costumes Vesna Hiltmann
Stage combat Stefan Müller-Doriat
Dramaturgy Susanne Schmitt