Presented by Guy Masterson’s Centre for International Theatre (C.I.T.)
@ Higher Ground – Main Theatre
SATURDAY 3 March (until March 17)

Two lamps cast a dim glow across the stage as we enter the theatre. Somewhere out of view a flickering light creates a slightly menacing feel to the set, although maybe that’s because I know what the play is about. We are presented with a kitchen, and a bed with a chair alongside it. There is a bedside table with one of two lamps and a mug next to it, and beside the bed is a drip and the pole it is attached to. These ‘rooms’ are separated by a strip of carpet with planks of wood that indicate doorways and walls.

At the end of this strip of carpet there’s a cupboard with a phone, the other lamp and a framed photograph of Paul Sheldon on it, along with several books including the Misery series. This cupboard is in the hallway.

A video begins to play of Paul Sheldon delivering a speech to his fans. The speech ends in rapturous applause which raises to a deafening level before changing into the sound of a car horn. A hunched silhouette sits in the chair next to the bed and a figure is asleep in the bed. The lights come on and we meet our two characters. Joanne Hartstone as Annie Wilkes and John Maurice as Paul Sheldon.

Annie Wilkes is Paul Sheldon’s self-proclaimed number one fan. As Paul shudders awake in the bed Annie forces him to suck painkillers off her finger. When we see the look of erotic pleasure cross her face at this close contact we know that this is not an ordinary situation. Annie is not the good Samaritan she tries to pass herself off as and Paul is in big trouble.

By now, most people seeing the show will know the basic story, or at least about the most famous scene. But this performance is based upon the book not the film, and there are a few differences.

The basic story is as follows: Paul Sheldon, famous author of the ‘Misery’ series of novels, crashes his car. Annie Wilkes finds him and takes him back to her house to be nursed back to health. But upon reading his latest work she discovers that he kills the Misery character off, something of which she does not approve. Annie decides to have him resurrect the character. But he can’t just pretend  she survives the events of the last book and change what he’s already written. That would be a cheat, and make him a ‘dirty birdy’, and now Annie can not have that. It’s not fair. Paul is left to concoct a story that explains away those events but  which also doesn’t pretend as though they didn’t happen.

Running for over two hours it is remarkable how quickly that time goes as you’re immersed into the dysfunctional world of Annie and Paul. Sometimes there seems to be a genuine warmth between the two characters, at others there is only fear and power on display. The psychotic mood swings of Annie are played to perfection by Hartstone. In the first act Maurice is given very little to play but considering he is confined to a bed with little to act but pain he does exceedingly well.

After the intermission the set has seen a shift; we now have a desk with a typewriter on it at the front. This makes me hopeful that we’ll see some more from Paul in this act. Seeing Annie sitting in the wheelchair drizzling honey onto her tongue from a knife while listening to Paul read to her from his new Misery story is disturbing, to say the least.

Maurice indeed is given more to play in this act. His building frustration and his turn to a mild madness as he thinks of poisoning Annie, or setting a fire while she’s out show us just how desperate he becomes and he does well with this solid material.

Hartstone said on reprising the role after a sold-out session at the Bakehouse last Fringe, ‘it was really interesting … when you come back to a show the character and the story settle down in you… in some ways it’s more intense and a lot harder to step away from… you get so immersed in what you’re doing.’

It would be easy to play Annie with no depth, but Hartstone does not do this. She notes an awareness of Kathy Bates’s performance but emphasises the play is based on the book and how she came to know the character through  this medium. She says of the character, ‘she is really damaged… she’s really done some horrible things… and yet she’s still a human being with wants and needs and she’s trapped by her own thoughts and the emotions that run through her body that she can’t control.’ It is an absolute pleasure to watch the rapid fire changes of Hartstone as she moves through the spectrum of emotions jumping from happiness to anger, or frustration to sadness rapidly and with believability.

Hartstone also commented on her commitment to bringing the best quality theatre to Adelaide, and not just importing but also exporting some of our fabulous talent, as she believes that in terms of theatre ‘Adelaide should be acknowledged for being on the international playing field.’  Now, with plans to tour this show, interstate readers should keep their eyes peeled for when it hits their city.

Basically, you should go see this show, you don’t want to be a dirty birdy and make Annie mad now, do you?