The supply of top-notch stage thrillers has never matched public demand for them, which helps explain the enduring popularity of Patrick Hamilton’s Victorian pastiche Gaslight.

The writer knew he had a winner before its first staging in 1938, predicting success that duly came on both sides of the Atlantic..

The excellent revival (director Anthony Banks) in Aylesbury until Saturday comes at a timely moment, with the domestic abuse at the centre of the play closely mirroring aspects of the Rob and Helen plot that has so gripped fans of The Archers.

Attention focuses on young wife Bella Manningham whose odious husband is trying to drive her mad by trying to convince her she is mad. His crafty method consists in hiding things about the house and insisting that Bella has secreted them.

Why he should be doing this is never adequately explained in a drama where the plot sometimes creaks but which is never without the psychological insights that were so much a feature of Hamilton’s work.

Rather than ponder that, though, audiences can savour the fine work of Kara Tointon – Rosalie in TV’s Mr Selfridge – as the terrified Bella and the statuesque Rupert Young as her callous torturer.

His devious scheme to have her locked away seems likely to be halted, however, with the sudden arrival of the detective Rough, almost a comic figure in his top hat.

He has much to reveal about the ‘back story’ of the Manningham house, in between medicinal draughts of whisky, which he invites Bella to share.

That Rough is played by the notorious hell-raiser (and fine actor) Keith Allen adds an extra element to the boozing.

One is reminded, too, of Patrick Hamilton’s addiction to whisky - being a three bottle a day man eventually.

Manningham’s ill-disguised lust for the scheming maid Nancy (Charlotte Blackledge) also reflects the upper-crust writer’s taste for girls from the lower orders. In short, much to think on.

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CHRIS GRAY 4/5