Wait Until Dark: Drugs! Murder! Dolls! Wasps!

When an invading wasp took center stage in the early moments of Wait Until Dark, I was worried that if the action didn’t start soon, the show might be overshadowed by the buzzing, evil insect that kept ominously landing on the actors’ clothes and heads. But within a few minutes, the dark visitor was forgotten as we entered a world of drug-filled dolls and bodies shoved into closets.

June 27, 2011; 10:46 AM • by Lauren Grant

When an invading wasp took center stage in the early moments of Wait Until Dark, I was worried that if the action didn’t start soon, the show might be overshadowed by the buzzing, evil insect that kept ominously landing on the actors’ clothes and heads. But within a few minutes, the dark visitor was forgotten as we entered a world of drug-filled dolls and bodies shoved into closets.

Taking place in just five scenes all set inside a small Greenwich Village apartment in the 1960s, Wait Until Dark is the story of Susy Hendrix, a woman who is blindly thrown into the path of three con men looking for a missing baby doll filled with heroin. The kicker: she’s BLIND! (So yes, above pun absolutely intended.)

The role was famously played by Audrey Hepburn in the 1967 film so it would’ve been easy to cast a sprightly brunette with a pixie cut in skinny jeans and ballet flats to try to charm the audience with her best Audrey impression. Instead, they cast Aly Wepplo, a feisty blond who couldn’t have looked less like Audrey Hepburn but owned the role with the same outward naivete/inner pluck. The scope of her emotions, from excitement to sorrow to terror, was just as impressive as her ability to make the audience forget that she could actually see.

The crowd favorite, however, was Mike Talman, the gruff bad guy turned pile of mush when faced by a cute blond with tears in her eyes. Talman was played by Barry Pruitt who was so convincing with his baddie versus softie balancing act that all along you never really knew what Mike’s next move would be.

Throughout its two acts, the show builds up to an intense final scene that takes place in the pitch black. When they begged the crowd to turn off all cell phones before the show, I immediately assumed it was because they didn’t want someone’s Ke$ha ringtone killing the suspense. Instead, they explained that huge efforts had been made to make sure the theater was completely dark for the final moments of the play and they didn’t want a glowing cell phone to ruin it. Luckily, everyone listened and the darkness wasn’t marred by someone checking in on Foursquare.

If you like thrillers, darkness, cute blonds and are cool with a little secondhand smoke in the name of realistic acting (and also possibly having the stranger in the seat next to you grab your leg out of fright), go see Wait Until Dark at the Swift Creek Mill Theater. And if you like unlimited delicious dinner rolls, hit up the buffet before the show while you’re at it.

June 27, 2011 10:46 AM 2