Touring – reviewed at New Victoria Theatre, Woking
Guest reviewer: Lucy Jardine
Wait Until Dark, a 1966 thriller by Frederick Knott is a play about, well, a rather implausible and confusing plot where criminals try to recover, by kindness then by force, a object that the photographer husband has been persuaded to bring back from Amsterdam.
We are never quite sure why he agreed to do this – was he a deliberate drugs runner (although drugs are never mentioned), or simply a gullible stranger? He never quite convinces as to what he does, in his love for Suzy, or indeed why he is away at key moments in the play. So that’s the plot.
The set however, convinces more, and makes a nod to the 1960s original, the furniture and decor all instantly place us firmly in that era. The characters vary in their portrayals: there’s nothing subtle about the bumbling crooks, the husband’s fondness for his wife never seems quite genuine.
The real tour de force is Karina Jones, who herself was registered blind at the age of 13. Not having known this before the play, I had been utterly convinced by the way she felt her way around the stage, negotiating obstacles (a great many obstacles!) as she did so.
Overall however, by the end of the play you are left feeling that you have just watched a rather dated, over-theatrical production by a rather ho-hum am dram company. See it if you want a chuckle, but otherwise don’t bother.
