Gaslight

A bell clangs in the early evening gloom of a foggy Victorian street as the muffin man does his rounds, while in the tall, forbidding house which is becoming her prison, Bella Manningham is slowly losing her mind. Her husband's tyranny and the insolence of her housemaid, plus the air of mystery in her home, have driven her almost to breaking-point ... So the scene was set for - Patrick Hamilton's powerful thriller, "Gaslight".

Set at the end of the last century, the play shows how a married woman in those days was completely controlled by her husband, and had very little chance to make her voice heard, even when trapped in a situation like Bella, the wife in this piece.

While Jack Manningham goes out on the town each evening, his wife cowers alone in her room, lit by the shadowy gaslight, listening to the mysterious footsteps overhead. When an unexpected visitor turns out to be an ex-policeman, Sergeant Rough, Bella realises she's caught in some very sinister happenings.

http://lucilla-dramatic.merseyside.org/pastproductions/gaslight.html