Great Lakes Theater’s ‘Wait Until Dark’ not worth the wait

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics

 

In the 1960s, with “Psycho,” “Repulsion” and “The Manchurian Candidate” at the cinema and the novels of Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith on the shelf, playwright Frederick Knott’s psychological thriller “Wait Until Dark” was a welcome and well-received addition.

 

The play is about a recently blinded woman, who is terrorized in her basement apartment by three con men searching for a lost doll stuffed with narcotics.  When the doll can’t be found, the situation spirals out of control and Suzy must attempt to outwit her assailants by turning her physical disadvantage into a strategic weapon.

 

Psychological thrillers have become more sophisticated in the 50 years since “Wait Until Dark” first took to the stage.  As a result, our entertainment expectations and genre-IQ have been raised, which makes it impossible to watch this chestnut without noticing everything dated about it.

 

 

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