“Misery” – final performance!

Stephen King / William Goldman

“MISERY”

Novelist Paul Sheldon, who became famous for romantic novels about the aristocratic heroine Misery Chastain, is badly injured in a car crash during a snowstorm. Annie Wilkes, a former nurse and Sheldon’s “number one fan”, rescues her idol and takes the injured writer to a remote house to recover. When the heroine dies at the end of the next book in the series, Annie is seized by fury and decides that the writer must bring Misery back to life. To encourage the writer, Annie has all kinds of methods at hand, such as syringes and a birthday cake.

Stephen King drew inspiration for Misery from Evelyn Waugh’s short story “The Man Who Loved Dickens”, about a man held captive by the head of a South American family. The chief loves Charles Dickens’ stories and makes the man read them aloud to him. King became interested in what would happen if Dickens himself were held captive. The work is a cage that its creator enters voluntarily. Sheldon draws a comparison with the beautiful Scheherazade from the frame story of “One Thousand and One Nights”, who, to postpone her execution, tells the sultan a new story every night.

Translator, director and sound designer: Andres Roosileht

Artist: Marge Martin

Lighting designer: Rene Topolev

Cast:

Paul Sheldon – Veikko Täär

Annie Wilkes – Liina Vahtrik

Buster – Andres Roosileht

Running time approx. 2.5 hours including an interval

The production uses a stage prop pistol that is harmless to health but makes a loud bang.