Taut, terrifying ‘Misery’ kicks off new season for Miners Alley

This take on the Stephen King novel soars with strong direction and performances

Based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, Misery has opened the 2024 season at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center in Golden. As presented in MAP’s brand-new facility, this production of Misery is long on up-close physical and psychological terror, with incredible performances from the three-person cast. Written by William Goldman and directed by Warren Sherrill, this highly polished presentation brings the actors and the audience almost to their knees after a gripping two hours.

As the play opens, the action is already mid-stream with Annie Wilkes (Emma Messenger) caring for injured romance novelist Paul Sheldon (Torsten Hillhouse) who has just survived a snowy car crash outside Annie’s secluded home. Annie professes to be Sheldon’s “Number One Fan,” particularly for his famous fictional character — Misery Chastain. Initially, everything is copacetic, but not for long.

Inside Sheldon’s tiny space where he is now being held hostage, Annie has gone from caregiver to psychotic almost overnight. Even so, Sheldon shows gratitude for her care by allowing Annie to read the unpublished, final installment of Misery Chastain’s story. As she reads it, Annie is emotionally destroyed by the death of Misery and uses her power over the writer to have him change the ending.

The third character

Word of Sheldon’s disappearance quickly spreads through the small community where Annie lives, and soon the local sheriff (Mark Collins) is at her door asking pointed questions regarding Sheldon and Annie’s over-the-top adoration for him.

The remainder of the play becomes a tension-filled cat-and-mouse game between Annie and her prisoner. Paul realizes he is in danger and needs to escape from Annie’s so-called care, so he concocts several ways to extricate himself from her clutches. Annie, on the other hand, is now well off the insanity scale and will stop at nothing to get Sheldon to rewrite the ending of his new novel allowing Misery to live on. The final moments are a bloody mess as the audience witnesses the last chapter of the Annie and Paul saga.

Power trio

Watching the three actors in Misery is like being in a master’s acting class. As Annie, Messenger has perfected the slide from the ordinary to the criminally insane. When we first meet her, she is nothing more than an over-enthused fan of Sheldon and his character Misery. Over time, we see a certain way she looks at Sheldon or the way she cocks her head, and we know she has been transported to the other side. And then she explodes. There is no mistaking Messenger’s brilliance when it comes to capturing Annie’s emotional imbalance.

As Paul, Hillhouse is the picture of restraint for most of the action. We sense that he recognizes he is dealing with someone extremely dangerous, and for the most part, he chooses to go the high road. Knowing he is teetering on the brink of disaster if he crosses Annie in any way, he plays along. It would be so easy to embellish the character of Paul, but Hillhouse is superb at maintaining a cool front — until he isn’t. We then see the power behind his resolve to escape his captor and return to the land of the living.

As the sheriff, Collins gives the audience a much-needed break when he visits Annie on several occasions. There is a glimmer of hope that the madness we are all being subjected to may come to an end when the cavalry finally arrives. It is a small role, but Collins plays it with an impressive commitment that turns it into a meaningful and thought-provoking character.

Crisp direction

As directed by Sherrill, the play is perfectly paced from start to finish, with a crescendo-like effect as we move forward through time. Initially, the scenes flash in front of us in rapid succession. As its story unfolds, it slows down just enough to transport the audience into Annie’s twisted head, making us part of the action and feeling like hostages ourselves.

Sherrill does not shy away from the humor found in Goldman’s script and his interpretation of it. Maybe it’s nervous laughter that strikes a chord in the audience, however, it is a welcome relief during some very heavy exchanges between Annie and Paul. Finally, Sherrill has teamed a pair of actors that are so equal in ability that the play never loses its hold and only gets stronger as time goes on.

A strong shout-out must go to fight choreographer Amy Arpan, who has realistically created the intense physicality that ultimately plays out between Annie and Paul. Another goes to sound designer John Hauser, who masterfully incorporates sound into the production with terrifying results.

Seeing this terrifying King story come alive on stage is a special treat. The production is a combination of excellent acting and top-notch direction that truly brings to life King’s twisted tale. Kudos to Miners Alley for opening their season with an impressive show that doesn’t disappoint.