STAGE REVIEW: Gaslight - at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Monday, February 27 to Saturday, Saturday, March 4, 2017.

ALL that was missing from this first class psychological thriller were the torrent of boos and hisses the villain of the piece thoroughly deserved!

The gas does indeed burn brightly as Rupert Young brilliantly executes a convincing and menacing bully of a husband in top hat and long coat who mentally tortures his wife in a disturbing portrait of domestic hell.

Considering Patrick Hamilton’s period piece, set in the mid-Victorian era, was originally penned 80 years ago - as war loomed in Europe - it still contains much that is relevant in today’s society.

Pick up a newspaper anywhere around the country these days - or go on-line, and you are likely to find news of someone who has suffered because of an abusive domestic relationship.

Gaslight explores this manipulation of minds along with sanity, greed and murder, as Hamilton’s heroine Bella Manningham, played by Kara Tointon, suffers the sort of abuse in the home that has her, and us all, worried she is losing her marbles along with the photos, shopping lists and jewellery her controlling husband Jack accuses her of mislaying.

Kara’s frightened and confused Bella wins our sympathy from the outset in the gloomy gaslit living room which effectively evokes thoughts of life in the 1870s. She captures perfectly the mood and character swings from subserviency to revenge.

Helping her see light at the end of a very dark tunnel is a mysterious visitor, retired police officer Rough, deftly and delightfully played by the versatile Keith Allen who ensures the role has an impish scattering of humour as he seeks to snaffle the one that got away.

Brief but good performances too from Helen Anderson and Charlotte Blackledge, as the motherly housekeeper Elizabeth and flighty maid Nancy, the Bellingham’s servants.

Together, along with Hamilton's still relevant script, they all provided a timeless treat at the theatre.