Under the Gaslight
Austin Community College Mainstage Theater, Rio Grande campus, through Nov. 8
Running time: 2 hr, 20 min
Maybe you went to one of those high schools where you thought people were snobby, where gossip ruled the halls and your classmates scrutinized every little action. If so, that crowd doesn't hold a candle to the ranks of New York high society
in the years following the Civil War. These respected families were the self-appointed guardians of etiquette and decorum. Family name and respectability were paramount in houses lined with luxury, and to divert from the norm was to endanger your entire family's station in life.
In this setting begins Austin Community College's production of Augustin Daly's Under the Gaslight, a melodrama to define all melodramas. Laura Courtland (Anna McConnell), the daughter of one of these elevated families, is preparing to marry the respected bachelor Ray Trafford (Enoch Tamez). Suddenly (cue ominous piano music), a stranger appears, intending to betray Laura's deepest secret. She was not born to the Courtlands but instead was taken under their wing as a young ragamuffin pickpocket living on the streets. Since then, she has grown into a gracious young woman who holds her own among the ranks of the upper class. But her accomplishments and virtues mean nothing once the women of high society discover Laura's secret. Though Trafford is willing to stand by her, she refuses to endanger his social standing (cue sad but virtuous music) and runs away to begin life on her own.
Daly wrote this play before tying someone to the railroad tracks became a sign of the cornball copycat, when grand emotional gestures of self-sacrifice and heroism were not subject to today's cynicism. Director Shelby Brammer brings that out of her cast, playing moments directly to the audience and investing hook, line, and sinker in the earnestness of the melodrama. It actually works, and the whole show becomes a slightly quaint but fun exploration into the storytelling of another era.
That era shows in other ways. The script is relatively forward-thinking, if you consider that the play premiered in 1867. It reveals a society greatly stratified according to class. There's a nod to the burgeoning women's suffrage movement, and that Laura dares to strike out on her own says something for the independence of young women. Yet other moments are what they are; Laura scolds her black maid for being naughty, telling her to sit in the corner with her apron over her head. She confesses later that the only thing women have to give is their love, and so on. As an audience member, it's perhaps best to acknowledge these anachronisms and observe them with the same bemusement as we do the timely banjo music that accompanies the throngs of happy poor people eager to help Laura in her quest for what's right.
ACC brings a few experienced actors from the community to share the stage with its student actors here, and as the black-hatted, black-hearted Byke, Paul Wright is especially fun to watch. Much of the cast, however, are cutting their theatrical teeth with this play. Not all are destined to become pros, but some of the students, particularly Hailey Tuck as Pearl and Joshua Mayes as Bermudas, have a presence that suggests they may grow into great performers.
Under the Gaslight has moments when it's hard for the audience to stay invested. Overall, however, ACC's production provides a fun evening of peering through a window into the ideas and entertainments of another age.
