Wait Until Dark

The Play which was debuted on Broadway in 1966 and adapted to the screen almost immediately thereafter portrays a tale of a young married blind girl Susy who coming to terms with her disability is faced with having to deal with three criminals seeking to recover a drugs stash hidden in a doll which had been secreted in her apartment by its previous occupant., who has been murdered by the gang leader. Throw into the mix that her disability initially prevents her realising that the head of the criminal bunch is female who at times dresses and pretends to be male and the other two villains play a police sergeant and business man with a myriad of excuses to be at the Notting Hill apartment.  Her only help as she comes to terms with what is going on and deduces what the criminals are up to is her neighbour’s precocious young daughter and husband who is dismissive of her concerns.

The play was put into the hands of the talented Peter Dawson  who has an intuitive  touch in his directorial approach  and this was apparent in his period setting of the play of the sixties/seventies. His set design, lighting, and sound were first class and he had the support of the excellent Westovian Technical Crew who came up trumps once again in this area.

On the downside however, and realising that it was important to set the scene and develop the characters I felt that in places in the first half  the production lacked pace and was too drawn out, However once we got a handle on the protagonists  the second half was  much better and flowed  nicely.

So far as the casting itself was concerned all the characters were believable and the quality of acting from all was of the Company’s usual high standard. A clever touch was to cast a female in the role of arch villain Roat as this brought a new and perhaps more pointed touch to the character. I agree with the Director’s assessment that it took the audience down a different route with a more wicked witch outlook. Well done to Joan Tippins on her clever interpretation of the character. Being sighted and chosen to play the role of a blind character must  be daunting as any slip out of character  will be spotted by the audience, and the magic lost. So it is a massive well done to Erin Atack who played the role of Susy with complete commitment to the character. The diverse traits, fears and expectations of the characters of Croaker (Jamie Gallagher) Mike (Declan Marshall) and Sam (Leon McGuiness) were excellently portrayed and well delivered. Finally a very special mention to 12 years old Madeleine Duell  who on her Westovians debut  shone in the role of Gloria. Over all another good Westovian experience and evening

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