Wait Until Dark

With a plot that — albeit riddled with holes — is complex enough to be intriguing to the end, Wait Until Dark challenges a housewife who has lost her sight to recognise the deceits in a confidence game that three villains run on her in order to motivate her to find a missing doll.  The doll is, of course, merely a vehicle for something more sinister, and it is plain from early on that their determination to possess it makes the villains extremely dangerous.

The set is well thought-out and replete with relevant detail, and its lighting, critical to the plot, was superb for its purpose and pretty well coordinated.  It's a pity that direction didn't address certain inconsistencies, such as between the practical use of blinds for signalling and verbal preparations for so using them, by wiping the irrelevant discussion from the dialogue, but such things didn't detract much from enjoyment of the action.

And the physical action occurring on this stage worked a treat.  In particular, attempting to play realistically, with eyes open, the part of a completely blind person must surely be the play's major challenge; and it's one that Jenna Roberts rose to as effectively as her character, Susy Henderson, rose to the challenge of seeing through the con game and staying alive to tell the tale.

If audience applause is any indication, this play will prove popular for all the right reasons.  Despite its plot holes and inconsistencies, it's an exciting tale on which the cast's great physical coordination kept raising the temperature, and well worth entering into.

John P. Harvey

Image: Jenna Robers and Euan Bowen, in Wait Until Dark.  Photographer: Helen Drum.