I’m Stephen King’s number one fan. Although, I don’t really feel comfortable saying that after witnessing the extremes to which Annie Wilkes goes as the number one fan of writer Paul Sheldon in Misery. Misery is an adaptation by William Goldman of his screenplay adaptation of the novel by Stephen King. Misery has never been my favorite King book or film, but they are both solid works. I have to say that I think it translates very well into a play, this is my second production of Misery and I think the superior one. A play like this, when you know the story so well, comes down to not what the story is, but how they tell it. So what’s important is the performances, the direction, and the production design all of which are top notch in this production from the Lakeshore Players Theatre. For those unfamiliar with the plot there will be the added thrill of several surprising moments, for those that do know, the fun is seeing how they will accomplish certain moments and what we be left out all together. Spoiler, you don’t get to see the car crash. What is sort of amazing about this production is how into it the audience is, and how even knowing the story so well, it’s still a thrilling two hours.

The play opens with writer Paul Sheldon waking up in the home of Annie Wilkes, his self declared “number one fan”. He doesn’t know where he is or what happened to him. He learns from Annie that he had a car accident due to a snowstorm and that luckily she found him and was able to pry him out of the wreckage and get him back to her house in the woods. He has a badly dislocated shoulder and both legs were broken. Luckily for him, she’s a former nurse who was able to splint his broken legs and has a stockpile of painkillers to help him manage the pain until he can be moved to the hospital. Unfortunately, the phone lines are down because of the storm and the road to the hospital is undrivable, or so Annie says. Annie, whom at first seems to Paul like a Angel of mercy, slowly reveals herself to be more a harbinger of misery. It starts with little moments of odd behavior which become increasingly more disconcerting. Soon it becomes clear to Paul that his number one fan loves him so much, she has no intention of ever letting him go. The play becomes an exercise in suspense to see if Paul can outwit Annie and survive until help can arrive.

The three Actor cast is filled with two Twin Cities unknowns Megan Blakeley and Tim Wollman; Tom Sonnek whom audiences have seen at Lakeshore and Theatre in the Round locally. Wollman plays Buster the Sheriff who comes looking for the missing writer. It’s a very small role that is made even smaller in the play which may be adapter Goldman’s one misstep. In his screenplay, Buster has a larger role and you come to like and root for him to find Paul. Not developing that relationship between the character and the audience robs one of the big moments of much of its impact. It also leaves the actor without a lot to do other than act as a catalyst for the plot to move forward. Wollman does everything anyone could want, it’s just a thankless and underwritten role. Sonnek as Paul Sheldon does a great job of gradually showing the characters realization that his savior might actually be his damnation. We find ourselves very involved in his plight and that raises the stakes emotionally. Blakeley as Annie Wilkes, like her predecessor in the role Kathy Bates who won an Oscar for the film, steals the show. Blakeley establishes Annie as someone whose mood can turn on a dime. Sickeningly sweet and simple one minute and cruel and vindictive the next. She has some darkly comic line readings that make the audience laugh while also frightening us a little. What makes the character such an effective villain is she’s normalish most of the time but when she turns it’s unexpected and often quite brutal. Blakeley switch between the two extremes with such fluidity, that halfway through it’s hard to take anything she says without and underlying sense of dred.

Misery is also a visually effective production. I was particularly impressed with the set design which consists of three room set on a giant turntable that revolves as characters move throughout the house. It seems like an expensive set to have designed and created but it’s worth every penny from the audience’s perspective. The Scenic Designer Mark C. Koski’s work is creative an effective giving the play a dynamic visual sense akin to the surprise I felt when the train cars began to move in Murder on the Orient Express at the Guthrie a couple of years back. Also impressive was the lighting design by Tracy Joe. Early on there is a lighting cue that captured the transition of time between a character going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning better than I’ve ever seen it done. That was just one example, the entire show is expertly lit and that isn’t something I always notice. Megan K. Pence directs the show and utilizes Koski’s set to an almost cinematic effect at times. Pence builds the tension to be sure but her direction focuses more on the characters relationship and the power dynamic at play between the helpless writer and his fanatic caregiver. It’s a thriller to be sure but it’s also a fascinating character study of an obsessive fan that you wont soon forget about.

Misery runs through February 9th at the Hanifl Performing Arts Center in White Bear Lake. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.lakeshoreplayers.org/misery-season-72

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