One of the best isolation horror stories of all time, and a permanent staple among Stephen King’s most terrifying and thrilling tales, has come to the stage in Big Dawg Productions’ adaptation of Misery. The play is currently showing in Wilmington, NC, a small coastal city that already has a massive connection to Stephen King, as several of his books take place there (Joyland, The Institute) and many of adaptations of his books were filmed here, including Under the Dome, Cat’s Eye, and Silver Bullet.
Director Randy Davis has adapted William Goldman’s brilliant screenplay from 1990’s Misery, starring Kathy Bates and James Caan, for his stage show. Goldman is no stranger to adapting King’s work, as he also wrote the screenplays for Dreamcatcher and Hearts in Atlantis. Most notably, William Goldman is the author behind the best-selling novels, The Marathon Man and The Princess Bride.
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Davis keeps things simple in his Misery stage adaptation, using a two-room, three-character show, and taking 90 minutes to develop all three characters appropriately. The show’s protagonist, Paul Sheldon, is played by a bed-ridden Steve Vernon, who must toe the line between impressing his captor, while simultaneously figuring out how to escape. The iconic horror villain Annie Wilkes is played by Holli Saperstein, who not only appeared in the most recent season of Stranger Things, but also had minor roles in David Gordon Green’s Vice Principals, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends. The role of Sheriff Buster is played by Horror Geek Life’s own contributing writer, Chase Harrison.
Saperstein’s take on Annie Wilkes was fantastic. Her fluctuations between sane and caring nurse to certifiable psychotic were seamless and downright unsettling. She was essentially playing two roles in one, and did a wonderful job at both. The image of Annie Wilkes staring into the audience, caked in blood and backlit in red light as she haunts Paul Sheldon’s life, is still burned into my mind.
Vernon’s portrayal of Paul Sheldon is great, too. He makes as much physical use of the two-room set as possible. You could see the pain in his face as he struggled to move around Annie’s house on two broken legs. He perfectly encompassed the witty smugness of a successful novelist, and balanced between a terrified victim, and a fighter that knew he had to make hard choices in order to survive. Most of his acting comes from the confines of a bed, and to pull that off and keep the audience engaged, takes real talent.
Harrison played Sheriff Buster with a slight charm that overshadowed a prodding seriousness. He took Richard Farnsworth’s memorable role from the film, and added a little more of the book sheriff’s personality. His mouth smiled with a “How ya doin’, mam?”, but his eyes blazed with an “I know what you’re up to, Annie.”
Big Dawg’s Production of Misery isn’t for the faint of heart, either. The memorable and gory scenes from the film are done in the play as well, and if you’re not used to the horrific storytelling of King, you may be in for a shock when it comes time for the “hobbling scene”, and the bloody final act.
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The production is currently running through Sunday, October 30th, 2022, at Thalian Hall in Wilmington, North Carolina, and is well worth the price and the drive if you’re in the area. Tickets can be purchased here. If you miss your chance to see it this year, here’s hoping that Randy Davis and his crew makes Misery a main-stay for the spooky season in North Carolina.
