by Sarah Wright
A horror show about a sociopath who demands stories be rewritten to her satisfaction is, I daresay, opportune. Onstage now at the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket, this new production of Misery is bad to the bone, subtly campy, & crazy good all at once. Indeed, Misery loves company—get your tickets now!
Directed by TWN Artistic Director Justin Cerne, this production of Misery feels spot-on timely. Its bullseye brilliance addresses themes of power and control, celebrity worship, mental illness, and rural isolation. The use of instrumental versions of familiar pop songs and projected typewritten chapter titles also creates an immersive feel for theatergoers.
Set during a blizzard in Silver Creek, Colorado, romance writer Paul Sheldon (Andrew Rein) goes missing when his car careens off a mountain road. The play opens with him lying in bed in his #1 fan’s home with no memory of what happened. Beyond this, Annie Wilkes (Sharon Wheatley) is an erstwhile nurse with a dubious grip on reality.
I must say that playing Paul Sheldon looks like torture, so root for him no matter what. In other words, even though he is immobilized the entire play, Rein steps into the role with both feet, mustering all the strength he can. Truly, I believe his part involves physical discomfort and stamina.
By contrast, playing Annie Wilkes presents the opportunity to play a villainess. Her goals, motivations, and conflicts drive the whole story, which again, starts with Paul’s auto accident in a remote location. Wicked Wilkes will only make this horrible situation worse.
Unfortunately for him, Paul’s injuries include compound leg fractures as well as a dislocated right shoulder. He exhibits obvious signs and symptoms of severe pain, which Annie treats with Novril. To be clear, this is not a real medication. Yet she uses it against him to create drug dependency.
Sensing a smidge of stranger danger, Paul adjusts his own reactions to Annie’s emotional dysregulation. As she feeds him, gives him his pills, and empties his urinal, she regales Paul with her deep knowledge of his latest novel’s main character, Misery Chastain. In fact, Misery has had a starring role throughout Paul’s writing career, given the series he’s written around her.
Meanwhile, Annie is heavily invested in what happens next because she has followed both author and main character so closely for so long. Likewise, Paul just wants to know when the roads will re-open and phone service resume so he can call his daughter and his agent.
Annie’s false imprisonment of Paul slowly expands as she provides vague and untrue replies to his main concerns. After he shares his latest draft manuscript with her, things take a dreadful turn.
Why? Because Annie is deranged. She drags an outdoor grill into the room where Paul is trying to recover, only to park it inches from the bed. Then she throws his manuscript on the grill, douses it with lighter fluid, and hands him a matchbox.
Annie forces Paul to torch the book-in-progress because she did not like the ending. Mind you, the story is fictional, but she is hellbent on a fire and fury bedside book burning anyway. Can you say “Stockholm Syndrome”?
She then demands Paul write a new novel to bring Misery back to life. Annie sets him up at a table with a typewriter in the same claustrophobic sleeping space where all the action takes place. Seated in a wheelchair, Paul knows his best hope of getting out alive is appeasing the madwoman who rules the roost.
As anyone who’s seen the film or read the novel knows, things get worse and worse for Paul. For example, one day Sheriff Buster (AL Bundonis) knocks on Annie’s front door asking about Paul. Annie cheerfully dismisses the sheriff, and eventually locks Paul in his room and ties him to the bed.
But Misery is most famous for the hobbling scene, which feels like an apt metaphor in America right now. Though Sheriff Buster later returns, Annie has no interest in the law, either. Sound familiar?
Wheatley, Rein, and Bundonis are all excellent, individually and together. Wheatley is convincing as a woman with axes to grind and a sledgehammer to swing. Similarly, Rein makes you think he is writing the great American novel during the play’s 105 minutes. Finally, Bundonis captures his smaller role with aplomb.
But the insane way Wheatley inhabits Annie Wilkes will stay with me for a long time. I’m sure Kathy Bates would give her seal of approval, too; she’d probably say, “Break a leg.”
Of course the primary source material for Misery comes from the “King of Horror” himself, Stephen King. His 1987 novel of the same name was subsequently adapted by screenwriter William Goldman for the 1990 film. It starred James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, and Lauren Bacall as a literary agent. Bates won an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Stephen King has described Misery as an allegorical tale about his cocaine addiction. In real life, he overcame this drug problem when his wife staged an intervention.
Unless you’re writing a book, and even if you are, stage your own intervention from real world toxic culture and check out Misery before it closes early next month.
Sarah Wright embraces theater for its live performance art, storytelling, & shared experience.
Misery is on the TWN stage through October 4. Full schedule and ticket at theatrenantucket.org
