Misery

Stephen King / William Goldman “MISERY”

The writer Paul Sheldon, who has become famous for his romantic novels about the aristocratic lady Misery Chastain, is involved in a serious car accident during a snowstorm. Former nurse Annie Wilkes, Sheldon’s “number one fan,” rescues her idol and takes him to a remote house to recover. When the heroine dies at the end of the next book in the series, Annie is consumed by rage and decides that the writer must bring Misery back to life. Annie has various ways of encouraging him, such as syringes and a birthday cake.

Stephen King was inspired to write Misery by Evelyn Waugh’s short story “The Man Who Loved Dickens,” about a man held prisoner by a South American tribal chief. The chief loves Charles Dickens’s stories and forces the man to read them aloud to him. King began to wonder what would happen if Dickens himself were held captive.

Creation is a cage that the creator enters voluntarily. Paul Sheldon also compares himself to the beautiful Scheherazade from the frame story of One Thousand and One Nights, in which, to postpone her execution, she tells the sultan a new story every night.

Translator, director and sound designer: Andres Roosileht
Designer: Marge Martin
Lighting designer: Rene Topolev

Cast:
Paul Sheldon – Veikko Täär
Annie Wilkes – Liina Vahtrik
Buster – Andres Roosileht

Performance duration: approximately 2.5 hours, including an interval.

The production uses stage fog, which is harmless to health, and a loud bang.