York Theatre Royal – until Saturday 25th November. Reviewed by Michelle Richardson
3***
The Original Theatre Company in association with Eastbourne Theatres present Frederick Knott’s play Wait Until Dark, which is probably best known for the 1967 film staring Audrey Hepburn, a role for which she was nominated for an Oscar .
The story is set in Notting Hill in the 1960’s, all staged in a downstairs flat. It follows Susy, who is blind and in fact is played for the first time by a blind actress (Katrina Jones), who has been left alone in her flat and becomes the target of 3 conmen, who are searching for a doll which is packed with heroin.
Mike (Jack Ellis) and Croker (Graeme Brookes) have been summoned to flat by Roat (Tim Treloar) and are somewhat reluctantly persuaded to help him retrieve the aforementioned doll. Mike manages to worm his way into her home convincing Susy that he is an old friend of her husband Sam. Croker is introduced as a policeman and the menacing Roat is first his father and then the father’s son, excusing his father’s behaviour. Confusing? I certainly thought so, especially with him running up and down the stairs, slamming doors and I did get a bit lost of who he was pretending to be, it all got a bit too much during the first half of the play.
Jones delivers an ok performance, but it was a bit over the top during the hostage scene with Roat and I did find that quite off putting. Ellis was affable as Mick and not threatening at all, not sure if he was meant to be. I did slowly warm to his character and did believe his attack of conscious towards the end. Treloar was certainly deranged as Roat, but at times his accent was all over the place and I wasn’t sure if he was even meant to have one, he was menacing though.
With a staircase in a basement flat, and period fixtures and fittings the staging is spot on. The lighting is crucial to this show and we were warned beforehand that there would be sections where there would be complete darkness. Obviously, the lighting, or should I say lack of, as well as the flickering strip light, is intended to emphasis the drama right up until the very end, and it does help the suspense.
After struggling with the first half with not being quite sure what was happening and why, I’m glad to say that after the interval the plot was less confusing and I did enjoy it more. There were some decent performances but the story was just a bit of nonsense and implausible, lacking in the suspense it was craving for, average at best.