In the post-MeToo era, the concept of gaslighting – a manipulation tactic to make a victim question their own sanity – has joined the everyday vernacular; in 2022, Merriam-Webster even named it Word of the Year.
But the term itself is far older, originating in Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light, about a man deceiving his wife in order to steal from her. The Victorian melodrama has been adapted many times over the last century, most famously in the 1944 film starring Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury – and now a new adaptation is touring Australia, with Geraldine Hakewill and Toby Schmitz.
