Hedgerow Theatre presents Stephen King’s Misery, adapted by William Goldman

The October storm outside, mixed with Hedgerow’s beautiful and spooky century-old theater, in a converted 1840 gristmill, made for the perfect evening for some horror. With Philadelphia favorites Bruce Graham and Emma Gibson onstage, and a well-loved King novel in the mix, the audience was ready to be entertained and scared.

Calculating players

Misery follows novelist Paul Sheldon (Graham) after he crashes his car in a blizzard and wakes up in the home and care of Annie Wilkes (Gibson). Wilkes quickly professes to be Sheldon's biggest fan, having read all of his Misery Chastain romances. She claims to be nursing him back to health after his accident, which has rendered him bedridden. When Wilkes discovers that Sheldon’s most recent novel kills off her favorite character, her tender care turns to torture, as she withholds medicine, water, and turns to violence, all in an attempt to get him to write Misery a new story.

William Goldman renders Sheldon and Wilkes as equally calculating opponents, and audiences were already immensely entertained by Catherine Slusar’s direction of their tête-à-tête before any fake blood was shed. Graham brings a genius quality to Sheldon, leaving us guessing what his next move to get free will be up until the moment he executes. Gibson’s whimsical and earnest demeanor offers audiences the ability to empathize with her almost-saccharine Annie Wilkes, who finds herself in love with her favorite writer and captive victim.

An evocative setting

I’m a huge fan of the craggy stone wall at the back of the Hedgerow stage, and I’m always a little disappointed when a production chooses to cover it up. The Colorado mountain range, however, backed by a white muslin fabric that colored lights can be thrown upon, is a wise choice by Wiseley and lighting designer Lily Fossner to communicate setting and time. This storytelling is aided by Georgia Evans’s ingenious costume design, which economically communicates time passing, occupation, and elicits a laugh when Annie appears in a gaudy dress for a candlelit dinner with her hostage.

Wiseley’s set continues to offer surprises along the way, introducing additional rooms to Annie’s house of horrors, as well as expanding the world of the play outside of the home and the stage, with Kevin J. McCann making his entrances from the back of the audience as Sheriff Buster. These reveals throughout the play, along with the drip-feed psychological performances, leave the audience on the edge of their seat to see what will happen next.

Bungled transitions

However, the transitions between scenes seem a bit lackluster. Often, the storytelling halts completely in long blackouts with no soundscapes or other bells and whistles, leaving the audience to wait, or begin chatting among themselves. Sometimes, transitions include unnecessarily loud and overbearing sound cues like typewriter noises or the clinking of spoons, which continue to play while Gibson and Graham created the same effects with their props, a confusing design choice. Rarely, transitions allow the audience to see more of the set change, or even create moments of additional storytelling or suspense. More of these would have benefited the production.

A symphony of scares

Fight director Terri J. McIntyre and special effects coordinator Sean McGarry designed a cresting symphony of surprising jump scares, fight sequences, open fire, and the use of stage firearms. The entire cast and crew carry out these moments with adept skill, and continue telling the story throughout these technical sequences, a challenge in such an intimate setting.

Hedgerow Theatre’s Misery is equal parts horrific and hilarious, and Wiseley’s set design alone is worth the price of admission. Stephen King is the king of horror and Hedgerow is on its way to holding the crown for horror plays in Delaware County.

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