'Angel Street' offers murder, mystery

The Kirk Players will open their 42nd season tonight with the Victorian thriller "Angel Street" by Patrick Hamilton.

Performances will run through Nov. 11 at the Cuneo Museum and Gardens in Vernon Hills.

Directed by the Kirk Players artistic director Paddy Lynn of Mundelein, "Angel Street" centers around the Manninghams of Angel Street in London during the 1880s.

Fifteen years prior, Jack Manningham, played by Jim Leesch of Buffalo Grove, brutally killed his aunt to take possession of her rubies. He tore up the home searching for them, but the rubies were never found.

Manningham then marries Bella, played by Kat Basso of Mundelein, to use her money to buy his aunt's London home and at his leisure continue searching for the missing rubies.

But once he begins to suspect that his wife knows more than she should, he methodically attempts to drive his wife insane.

Bella Manningham is a frightened and frail woman who is afraid she may be doomed to insanity. Items begin to disappear and then reappear. And each night Bella hears tapping sounds upstairs, where she is not allowed to go.

"It is the type of things that can drive a person over the edge," Basso said.

But Basso said Bella wants her husband to bear with her, to react with kindness. She wants to be the perfect wife.

"I just want to be normal," she said. "I end up thinking it's the house."

While her husband is out one evening, Bella is visited by a police inspector who seems to know quite a bit about what is happening in the house. Inspector Rough, played by Patrick Blake of Libertyville, brings news that she finds difficult to believe.

Blake said she does not know whether to believe this stranger, but he is the one who assures her that she is not going mad.

"In the end, he is the hero, so I hope they love me," he said.

The housekeeper Elizabeth, played by Fran Hansen of Wheeling, and the maid, played by Wendy Preuss of Niles, also play important roles in this tale of deception.

In one evening, the secrets of 15 years are revealed.

Performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Cuneo Museum and Gardens, 1350 N. Milwaukee Ave., Vernon Hills.

Tickets cost $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and students and $12 for museum members and groups of 20 or more. All performances require advance reservations by calling (847) 362-3042.