Editing Gas Light (section)

{{Short description|1938 British thriller play by Patrick Hamilton}}
{{Other uses|Gaslight (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = Gas Light<br />{{small|A Victorian Thriller in Three Acts}}
| image      = Gas-Light-FE.jpg
| image_size =
| caption    = First edition 1939
| writer     = [[Patrick Hamilton (writer)|Patrick Hamilton]]
| characters = {{plainlist|
* Mr Manningham
* Mr Rough
* Mrs Manningham
* Elizabeth
* Nancy
}}
| setting    = On Angel Street, in the Pimlico district of London, 1880
| premiere   = {{Start date|1938|12|05|df=y}}
| place      = [[Richmond Theatre (London)|Richmond Theatre]], [[Richmond, London]]
| orig_lang  = [[English language|English]]
| subject    =
| genre      = Thriller
}}

'''''Gas Light'''''  is a 1938 thriller play, set in [[1880s]] [[London]], written by the British novelist and playwright [[Patrick Hamilton (writer)|Patrick Hamilton]].<ref name="Times">{{cite news |title=Crazy, He Calls Me (and Terrified, I Agree) |last=Bellafante |first=Ginia |author-link=Ginia Bellafante |date=24 May 2007 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/theater/reviews/24gasl.html |access-date=May 24, 2007 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605091448/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/theater/reviews/24gasl.html |archive-date=2015-06-05 |url-status=live}}</ref> Hamilton's play is a dark tale of a marriage based on deceit and trickery, and a husband committed to driving his wife insane in order to steal from her.<ref name="Times"/>

''Gas Light'' was written during a dark period in Hamilton's life.<ref name="Times"/> Six years prior to the play Hamilton was hit by a drunk driver and dragged through the streets of London, leaving him with a limp, a paralysed arm, and a disfigured face.<ref name="Frezza">{{cite web |last1=Frezza |first1=Daniel |title=About the Playwright: Gaslight |url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00367/hrc-00367.html |publisher=Southern Utah University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112142739/https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00367/hrc-00367.html|archive-date=12 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="Ransom">{{cite web |title=An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Cente |url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00367/hrc-00367.html |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas Libraries |access-date=1 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112142739/https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00367/hrc-00367.html|archive-date=12 January 2021}}</ref> Two years later, Hamilton's mother took her own life.<ref name="Frezza"/>

Premiering at the [[Richmond Theatre (London)|Richmond Theatre]] in London on 5 December 1938 before transferring to the [[Apollo Theatre]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]] on 1 January, the play closed after six months and 141 performances,<ref name="Wearing">{{cite book |last=Wearing |first=J. P. |date=2014 |title=The London Stage 1930–1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2mYAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA730 |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=740 |isbn=9780810893047 }}</ref> but it has endured through an impressive list of incarnations<ref name="Times"/> most notably '''''Five Chelsea Lane''''' (1941 American play{{snd}}renamed for Los Angeles production), '''''Angel Street''''' (1941 American play{{snd}}renamed again when Los Angeles production transferred to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]), and ''[[Gaslight (1958 film)|Gaslight]]'' (1958 Australian television play). ''Angel Street'' was a hit in its Broadway premiere, and it remains one of the [[List of the longest-running Broadway shows|longest-running]] non-musicals in Broadway history, with 1,295 total performances.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/angel-street-1145 |title=''Angel Street'' |website=IBDB.com |publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]] }}</ref><ref name="philadelphiaweekly.com">[https://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/3737/a-e--stage]{{dead link|date=October 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} philadelphiaweekly.com</ref>

The play was adapted to the big screen as two films, both entitled ''Gaslight''—a [[Gaslight (1940 film)|1940 British film]], and a [[Gaslight (1944 film)|1944 American film]] directed by George Cukor, also known as ''The Murder in Thornton Square'' in the UK. Both films are considered classics in their respective countries of origin, and are generally  equally critically acclaimed. The 1944 American version received seven nominations at the [[17th Academy Awards]], including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], and won two, [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] (for [[Ingrid Bergman]]) and [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]]. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Tartaglione|first=Nancy|title=National Film Registry Adds 'Purple Rain', 'Clerks', 'Gaslight' & More; 'Boys Don't Cry' One Of Record 7 Pics From Female Helmers|url=https://deadline.com/2019/12/national-film-registry-2019-record-female-directors-boys-dont-cry-purple-rain-clerks-gaslight-platoon-full-list-1202806279/|magazine=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=December 11, 2019|access-date=December 11, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-10-02|publisher=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Women Rule 2019 National Film Registry|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-19-116/women-rule-2019-national-film-registry/2019-12-11/|access-date=2020-10-02|publisher=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. }}</ref>