Tag Archives: Matthew Walsh

Review: Beverly Theatre Guild’s Wait Until Dark

Disclaimer: Normally I try not to review shows that I felt was below average (in my eyes), but since someone asked I have to oblige.

Wait Until Dark is probably best known for the 1967 film adaptation of the same name, with Audrey Hepburn as the young blind woman Susy Hendrix. The script itself is a fascinating read with the characters jumping out of the page. However, between myself and several other theatre goers we agree that there has yet to be a community theatre group that effectively creates the suspense necessary for this show.

Unfortunately for the Beverly Theatre Guild, they have not broken that mold. Wait Until Dark is about a recently blind woman, Susy Hendrix, who happens to be in possession of a doll full of drugs. Her husband came in possession of those drugs through a chance encounter with a thief while on flight heading home a few weeks earlier. In the meantime, there are three con-artists who are all gunning for the doll and lure the husband away on a trip of “business” so they could corner the blind woman and steal the doll. With the help of a young neighbor, Susy attempts to even the odds by turning off all the lights in the home… however she neglects one: the refrigerator.

This has all the ingredients for a splendid thriller, so where did it all go wrong?

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