Their production last year in St. Thomas of The Elephant Man was hailed as “brilliant,” “a show not to be missed,” and “very powerful.”
And now the Odesa Company of London returns to St. Thomas with their presentation of Misery, based on the Stephen King novel.
The psychological thriller revolves around a bestselling novelist who survives a car crash thanks to his “number one fan,” but her care soon becomes captivity. Trapped in her remote home, he’s coerced into rewriting his book, and he realizes she has no intention of letting him leave.
Scott Smalley, co-founder of Odesa Company along with his two brothers, explained that their productions like Misery, The Elephant Man, and the inaugural show of Dracula delved into the underbelly of society with darker themes.
However, there is somewhat of a twist when it comes to Annie, the novelist’s uber enthusiastic fan.
No spoiler alerts here, as Smalley presents a brief overview of Misery.
Smalley points out both characters “have to confront who they are as people in their sort of back and forth throughout the show. And so, yeah, it’s been really fun to dig at that and to really uncover some of those things.”
For Smalley, it is all about creating an emotional connection with the audience.
He notes there is a smaller team involved in this production, including a cast of three actors.
Because it is based on a Stephen King novel, tickets for the three-day run at the Princess Avenue Playhouse are moving quickly, according to Smalley.
Founded in 2022, Odesa Company is one of the newest additions to what Smalley refers to as an area “ripe with great productions.”
Misery runs Oct. 23 through the 26th with five performances in total. Tickets are $30 and available at http://odesa.company/tickets
Written by Ian McCallum
