Centenary Theatre Group Presents Veronica’s Room 

Chelmer Community Theatre, Chelmer

15th Feb-9th March 2025

 

Dr Gemma Regan

 

A brilliantly executed sinister psychological thriller from the Centenary Theatre Group

 

The Centenary Theatre Group (CTG) has launched its 49th year of entertaining Brisbane's Western Suburbs with Veronica's Room, a disconcerting psychological thriller that provides a much-needed chill in the scorching summer heat.

 

Like the CTG, Ira Levin's Veronica's Room has stood the test of time and is as relevant today as it was in 1973. The psychological thriller was written in the vein of his terrifying novel Rosemary's Baby, which led to the 1968 cult box office hit directed by Roman Polanski, and his unnerving satire of living the American dream with The Stepford Wives in 1972. 

 

With only four actors and one set in Veronica's Room, the audience is steered from an innocuous and credible scenario to one fraught with fear and foreboding in two simple acts. The term gaslighting, coined initially from the 1938 play Gaslight, has recently evolved to be part of urban slang but is often misused. Veronica's Room epitomises the true meaning when the Girl's perception of reality, played superbly by Mariam Mijnnsen, is ruthlessly manipulated to a fantastical extreme.

 

Each character is named to disguise the plot with the Woman Meg Hinselwood and the Man, John Bennetto, as an endearing aged Irish couple and the Boy, Peter Van Werkhoven, freshly dating the Girl Susan, who is a vivacious and vibrant student in Boston in 1973. With the stereotypical craic of the Irish and maybe a kiss of the Blarney Stone, the caretaker couple persuades Susan that she is a dead-ringer for Veronica Brabissant, the deceased elder sister of a now aged and befuddled Cecelia who believes her sister is still alive and well in the bedroom next door.

 

The adventurous and kind-hearted Susan agrees to pretend to be Veronica against the advice of her new beau, drawing her into a world of delusions and deviousness that keeps the audience questioning motivations and madness until the curtain closes.

 

Director Rhyll Bucknell perfectly casts the passionate Mijnnsen as the Girl Susan. The plot's intricacy pivots on each character's believability, with Susan as the fulcrum. Levin could have written the play with a vision of Mijnnsen in mind, and her character is faultless throughout despite the evolving scenarios. 

 

Likewise, Hinselwood and Bennetto, with their dodgy Irish accents, are well executed, blurring the lines between what I initially perceived to be poor acting and realising them to be masterful portrayals of the characters. This illustrates the crux of the play: perception is not synonymous with reality and requires informed insight, something Levin also embraces in Rosemary's Baby.

 

Van Werkhoven's character, as the boyfriend, is a little more complicated, requiring many guises, all of which he embraces to confuse the audience until the dramatic conclusion. 

 

Bucknell, the director, skilfully designed the innocent 1930's set of Veronica's bedroom with plenty of interactive vintage props and a poignant focus on the two doors and windows. There are very few sound effects, which add to the strange timelessness of the two acts give some sinister clues to the depth of the illusion.

 

The CTG have executed a brilliant and disquieting start to their 2025 season, which is a testament to the sinister genius of Ira Levin. The fully stocked and reasonably priced bar at the Chelmer Community Theatre will be needed to steady your nerves through the tumultuous second act. I highly recommend CTG's production of Veronica's Room to all who love a good thriller, but it comes with a warning: the repercussions will make you much more wary of chatting with friendly strangers!