Review: Wait Until Dark delivers on thrills

Nikkisha Elaine Lewis plays Suzy in Wait Until Dark. PHOTO/WILLI WERNER

The first Shambles Theatre production this reviewer saw on arriving in Rotorua in the early 1970s was Wait Until Dark.

Forty whatever years on the psychological thriller's back on the same stage (not for the first time) and this Richard Rugg-directed version is quite the best yet.

The cast of two women and four men, several of the latter multi-tasking as they slip from role to role, are first rate.

To convincingly perform such demanding parts players have to be a "cut above" the amateur dramatics norm. Rugg, himself an accomplished actor, has selected well for the demands Wait Until Dark makes of its characters.

The storyline's a complex one revolving around recently blinded Susy Henderson (Nikkisha Lewis), a role for which Audrey Hepburn received Oscar and Golden Globe best actress nominations in 1968.

Henderson finds herself cornered by hard-as-nails criminal Roat (Adrian Roberts).

With bumbling henchmen Mike (Ian Stabler) and Croker (Tim Eardly) they're on the hunt for a doll unwittingly brought into her apartment by husband Sam (Tom Walker) following a trip to Amsterdam.

Sam's a shadowy figure quickly dispatched on a fictitious out-of-town assignment, leaving the felons to con and coerce Susy into revealing the doll's whereabouts.

However, 12-year-old neighbour Gloria "Four Eyes" (Stella Pinckney) has spirited it away.

It's not until she surreptitiously returns it that the doll's significance becomes apparent.

Without revealing the punch line what follows is genuine edge-of-the-seat stuff with Susy striving to outfox the foxes.

As the action ramps up characterisations crystallise. Lewis' portrayal of the difficulties of being sight impaired is amateur acting at its best. Robert's Roat comes in a close second.

Both must be carrying significant bruises from the fight scene that's the production's climax, much of it played in total blackout or by match light.

Other than a tendency by some to unnecessarily shout their lines this production has little to fault it.

For those who like their entertainment to scare the bejesus out of them Wait Until Dark is a definite must see, however make sure your tranquilisers and heart pills are close by, those of a nervous disposition will likely need them.

WHAT: Wait Until Dark
WHERE: Shambles Theatre
WHEN: Until May 6 (next Monday and Tuesday excepted)