Geoffrey Kent and Jacque Wilke play a power couple in the worst possible way in the stage adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.

As audience members enter the Arvada Center’s mainstage theatre for Misery, they’re greeted by an almost full-sized, rundown cabin. It’s yet another impressive bit of scenic design by Brian Mallgrave, and Director Lynne Collins seizes on the opportunity to make the structure itself one of the main characters of this chilling tale based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

As the show opens, the entire thing spins to reveal the cabin’s interior. Soon, we’ll see the building become a mini-prison that also doubles as an island of disconnection. It’s the 1980s, so no cellphones or internet. The storm has knocked out the phones, and before long we’ll enter one of the most bizarre two-person worlds imaginable.

We’ve just heard a car crash and a radio announcement about a big snowstorm, and the result of that is now lying unconscious in a bed stage right. This is well-known novelist Paul Sheldon, whose series of schlocky Misery novels has made him fans around the world — with none more fervent than the loner nurse who inhabits the remote Colorado cabin, Annie Wilkes.

In William Goldman’s stage adaptation, Paul transforms from a seriously injured man grateful for the woman who pulled him from his wrecked car into a hostage looking for a way out at any cost. Bringing the character to life in the Arvada Center production is Geoffrey Kent, at the top of his game, portraying a man slowly, then all of a sudden, realizing how much danger he’s in.

With most of his lines delivered laid-up in bed or in a wheelchair, Kent makes up for his limited movement with his deep, resonant voice, exaggerated facial expressions and spot-on takes of Goldman’s excellent script. Often in Misery, the actor playing Annie gets all the attention simply due to her off-the-wall character (Kathy Bates won an Oscar for the role in the film adaptation). Here, Kent levels the playing field with Wilke to present a real cat-and-mouse drama offering a shocking story served up in a tight, 100 minutes with no intermission.

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Brian Mallgrave’s impressive set in ‘Misery.’ | Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography

Nurse from hell

Wilke digs into the role of Annie with a disarming, cutesy voice and folksy demeanor that underpins her sadistic tendencies. No doubt King himself had plenty of over-the-top fans with outsized ideas about what he should do with his own work. In Annie, that scary “No. 1 fan” comes to life in a woman whose own identity gets so wrapped up in the character of Misery Chastaine that she’d rather kill — and die herself — than see her own ideas about the narrative go off track.

In developing this character, Collins has Wilke plumb the depths of what humans are capable of, especially when they think they’re above caring about punishment or recriminations. Once we see who Annie really is, every word she utters carries some level of terror as we grasp how unwell she is. In that space, Wilke could have lowered the volume and intensity of some of her lines to devastating effect — a missed opportunity here and there. But there are plenty of other nice touches to make up for it, particularly bits of levity when Annie’s nursing techniques look more like a butcher handling a slab of meat than anything resembling tender care.

While nominally a two-hander, there is a third character in the form of hapless sheriff’s deputy Buster, played by Josh Robinson (who also understudies Kent). His two brief appearances burst the bubble of Annie’s fortress in chilling and at times funny ways, and Robinson nails the unsuspecting lawman.

Josh Robinson as Buster and Jacque Wilke as Annie in ‘Misery.’ | Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography

Impressive stagecraft

Adding to the mounting tension between the characters is a treasure chest of neat stagecraft. As day turns to night and back again, a lightning storm rages outside, and Annie’s old house is underlit in a rustic manner; Lighting Designer Shannon McKinney keeps it all neatly balanced with nary a shadow. Sound Designer Jason Ducat adds a number of ominous bits of music and other sound effects that elevate Mallgrave’s set to haunted-house level.

Meanwhile, costumer Linda Morken has fun with Annie’s ridiculously frumpy dress during the “romantic” dinner scene, and Jocelen Barnett Smith designed the perfect wig for Annie’s character.

With such strong performances and this excellent script, we’d be doing just fine with a bare set and minimal lighting and sound. Here, all of those added production elements are icing on a particularly nasty cake. When it turns out that Paul’s attempt to use his intellect to defeat Annie comes to naught and brute force is the ultimate answer, Kent’s own background as a fight director comes to the fore in a climax that really rocks the house.

Leave the kids at home for this one and check out Misery for a topnotch production that may just have you shopping for new snow tires this fall. You just never know ….

Jacque Wilke and Geoffrey Kent in ‘Misery.’ | Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography