Enjoying “Misery”

Misery

A Theater Review

When watching Misery, Meadville Community Theatre’s latest
production, one can’t help but appreciate the size of the small, intimate space in
regards to the play.

The approximately 150-seat audience seems to draw the viewer into the
drama, providing a sense of claustrophobia and panic that pervades the play and
the protagonist™s plight.

Based on Stephen King™s 1987 novel that morphed into a film that
garnered Kathy Bates an Oscar, the material morphed again into a play fashioned
by author-playwright William (Marathon Man) Goldman.

Paul Sheldon is a celebrated novelist whose life is saved by his “number-one fan,” Annie Wilkes, after a car accident during a heavy Colorado snowstorm. Events go from bad to worse when the author, crippled from the accident, is totally dependent upon caretaker Annie for food, comfort, and especially, his pain
medication on her isolated farm.

Annie vacillates from pure adulation over Paul, who created her favorite
historical romance series, Misery, to disgust, anger and even violence, when Paul
concludes the series with a shocking finale in his just-finished manuscript. Annie’s
not happy. And if Annie’s not happy, neither will her captive-patient-author be–
unless she gets what she wants.

Directed by Katie Wickert, the pace of her and the crew’s two-hour
production depicts how Paul occasionally gains the upper hand, only to lose it in a
mental cat-and-mouse game; after all, it’s Annie’s world.

Mitchell King’s solid portrayal of Paul is one of pure empathy; one can’t
help but feel for his character. We groan at his descending predicament; we cheer
his wily schemes and wordplay as he tries to outwit his captor-caretaker.

Jeremiah Saxton’s short but solid role as Sheriff Buster drives a spike of
saneness between Paul and Annie’s demented pas de deux with a down-home
folksiness that the audience no doubt appreciated by the time of his first
appearance.

Yet it’s Ellie Wood’s performance as Annie that binds cast members and
audience alike in her strait jacket manic-depressive maelstrom.

Annie’s sweet and sour disposition has one laughing one moment at her
goofy demeanor and aghast the next when her violent temper is tested.

Wood’s emotions as Annie range from ceiling-high exuberance to
basement-low blues, all to the awe of Paul and the audience.

The scary moral from Misery? In today™s social-media obsessed culture–
is that it™s only a short hop, skip and a jump from fan to fanatic.
**GG

Misery runs through October 21-30. Meadville Community Theatre, 400 N. Main St.,
Meadville, Pa. For upcoming show information, visit mctbackstage.com