Before the play adaptation begins, he wrecks his car in a blizzard and becomes severely injured. For years he has traveled to a lodge near a small Colorado town to finish one of his books and celebrate the accomplishment. The plot, which deals with a fictional author’s real life, seems more bizarre than many make-believe tales.įor the uninitiated, Misery, set in the late 1980’s, centers on a New York-based romance novelist, Paul Sheldon. This first-rate production is likely to elicit gasps and uncomfortable laughs before the roughly 90-minute, intermission-less show is over.ĭuring the play, a newsperson remarks that fictional romance novelist Paul Sheldon’s ordeal seems stranger than his fiction. The venue is Empire Stage’s extremely intimate playing space in Ft. The production, under Michael Leeds’ careful and detailed direction, runs through Oct. Tickets to this lean, mean, seemingly feverish dream of a play may disappear faster than a cheetah’s sprint. Undoubtedly, you could say the same for Empire Stage’s visceral and believable professional production. The riveting stage adaptation of Stephen King’s 1987 suspenseful novel, Misery, grabs you in a vice-like grip and never lets go. Gordon) in Empire Stage’s triumphant production of Misery. Why it’s gone viral four years after the play stopped running is anyone’s guess! The Internet is a strange place.Annie Wilkes (Elizabeth Price) tends to Paul Sheldon (David R. So it seems that what we’re watching is a viral marketing tool promoting a stage play in Virginia, almost half a decade too late. The group that posted the video is called “Generic Theater” and describes itself as “Virginia’s Underground Theater.” The group put on a stage adaptation of Misery back in 2011 – which is also when this video was made.

Sheldon is held against his will and tortured because of issues Wilkes has with his literary decisions, particularly in his latest book (you guessed it) Misery’s Child. In King’s novel, Sheldon crashes his car and is rescued by a deranged fan, Annie Wilkes, who takes him to her home instead of to the hospital. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Paul Sheldon is the main character in Stephen King’s 1987 novel Misery. She’s irate that nobody seems to have heard of him, and she screams out the names of his books, including Misery’s Child. The author that the woman wants to read so badly is Paul Sheldon.

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