WAIT UNTIL DARK. To 13 December.
London
WAIT UNTIL DARK
by Frederick Knott
Garrick Theatre To 13 December 2003
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Thu 3pm & Sat 4pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval
TICKETS: 0870 899 3342
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 October 2003
Thriller's impact muffled by casting and the passage of years.This sixties thriller was probably let in among the company of Wesker, Orton etc because of its author's previous decade success with Dial M For Murder and its own tightly-constructed plotting. This is the play that gives a star-part to the household's least-considered piece of lighting. Any revival has to play to this strength while handling sensitively the central situation of a blind woman terrified in her home, alone, by a criminal gang.
Saskia Wickham makes Susy mentally strong, her face never exploiting unseeing eyes, but showing alert, panic-restraining resolution and intelligence. She has an awkward child neighbour to handle in the process (Bettrys Jones' Gloria excellently showing strong-temper yet underlying good nature), which she does with swift thought and economy of expression.
There's capable work from the two men in the gang (Robert Fitch's husband is a non-role and the police little more than extras), Gary Mavers' Mike having the main role as a conman pretending to be Suzy's husband's old mate. Tony Scannell's Croker is fair enough. But star-casting brings the thing down. Peter Bowles might come over as a charming conman himself, but he's no-one's idea of a tough, violent criminal.
When Bowles' Roat produces a knife from his inner pocket as Geraldine, you expect a furry pet. Maybe this smoothness could add to the menace, but when he brandishes Geraldine to take on all comers the impact's risible. His final showdown with Susy can't help have tension a man willing to murder, determined to have his own way and clearly capable of finishing off the unseeing heroine.
But it doesn't convince. The menace is sarcastically unpleasant but not too menacing. This defuses some of Susy's terror: Come on woman, can't you see hear it's just some bored salesman from the pub having a go at life again?
Knott can't escape all blame his characterisation, decades on, is thin: the sketchy texture of TV cop series. But careful pacing and detail in acting can still do a lot. Joe Harmston's production shows evidence of trying for this, but the moments of sudden action remain unconvincingly stagy.
Mike: Gary Mavers
Croker: Tony Scannell
Roat: Peter Bowles
Susy Henderson: Saskia Wickham
Sam Henderson: Robert Fitch
Gloria: Bettrys Jones
1st Policeman: Bill French
2nd Policeman: Justin Deaville
Director: Joe Harmston
Designer: Paul Farnsworth
Lighting: Nick Richings
Sound: Matt McKenzie
Fight director: William Hobbs
2003-10-26 11:07:36