In its nearly 20-year history, St. Louis Actors’ Studio has impressively made the most of the Gaslight Theater’s intimate proportions. In Season 10, for example, the company found more room on the stage than seemed possible for the set depicting the multiroom Weston family home in “August: Osage County.”

Actors’ Studio has outdone itself, however, in its set for “Misery,” William Goldman’s adaptation of his screenplay based the Stephen King novel of the same name. It is immediately obvious that production manager, technical director, and scenic designer Josh Ortega has created a stikingly detailed set for the bedroom in a rural cabin. This handsome stage picture offers no clue, however, to a set change that received an ovation that at the Sunday matinee.

I am not going to spoil the surprise. It is one more reason to see Actors’ Studio’s gripping production of Goldman’s thriller.

At the start of the play, the bedroom is occupied by a seriously injured Paul Sheldon, the author of a best-selling series of Victoria romance novels. Earlier, Paul had finished a manuscript at his favorite location for writing in Colorado. After leaving the hotel, Paul ran his car off the road during a blizzard. While unconscious, he was extricated from the wreckage by Annie Wilkes, a nurse who later calls herself Paul’s “number one fan.”

Days later, when Paul comes to, Annie explains she could not take him to the hospital because of the snowstorm, so she brought him back to her isolated cabin to treat his injuries. Annie is elated to be caring for her idol, but her smarmy attentiveness grows possessive and controlling.

The flashes of Annie’s temper are worrisome when she complains about the language in Paul’s books and menacing when she finds out that Paul’s newest book has killed off the protagonist of his novels, Misery Chastain, whom Annie adores. Paul’s convalescence turns into captivity that will not end until he brings Misery back from the dead.

The control of tension is masterly under John Contini’s direction in the excellent Actors’ Studio staging. William Roth as Paul and Jenny Smith as Annie play off each other splendidly as the relationship between their character evolves into a perilous game of cat-and-mouse. The play’s 90 minutes fly by.

In addition to playing her starring role, Smith designed the fine costumes and props. Dalton Costick’s lighting sets the right mood, and Contini’s sound design has many well-chosen effects and musical excerpts. Shaun Sheley’s fight choreography has the requisite impact.

“Misery” continues through November 22 at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle Avenue.

—Gerry Kowarsky, 2026

Photo by Patrick Huber
William Roth (left) as Paul and Jenny Smith (far right) as Annie in “Misery.”