Review by Jennifer Mustoe, Front Row Reviewers
Wait Until Dark, now showing at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo, is worth seeing. This is a clue, and the plot of the play tells you why. Wait Until Dark tells the story of Susan Hendrix (Eden Bostrom), a woman recently blinded and still learning how to handle the world of darkness. Her husband Sam (Matthew DelaFuente) appears for a few moments at the beginning of the show, and then leaves to go to his job as a photographer. His leave taking is what brings us to the rest of Susan’s drama, where we see both sweetness and terror.
Bostrom is everything we want Susan to be: fierce, fragile, afraid, brave. She is convincingly blind, bumping into things, stumbling, hands out trying to get her bearings. We also get a hint that her blindness has honed her other senses, she mentions this later in the play. The way Bostrom portrays these other senses is beautiful and thoroughly convincing. It’s important that we see Susy as capable and accepting of her blindness. She is a wonderful heroine and we like her, though we also feel sorry for her. She mockingly calls herself “the blind girl” and we hear the despair in her voice quite clearly. Bostrom is Susy, this actress commits to this role completely.
The trouble begins with a doll. A doll that apparently many people are trying to find, so it’s obviously not your average child’s play toy. In fact, the doll, which has been put into Susan’s and Sam’s apartment unwittingly has such value that a woman has been killed for it, and her body stuffed into Susan’s closet while Susan is away.
A trio of thugs are looking for the doll, and enter Susan’s life trying to find, it, by whatever means necessary.
Thug one, Roat, played by Timothy Dillard, is first seen in the apartment before Susy arrives. Director Barta Heiner gives her actors great stage business and Roat wanders around the apartment, not only looking for the doll, but giving us the impression that he is a slimeball creep. Dillard is effective at this, and I took an instant dislike to him. Which shows his acting chops.
Sgt. Carlino, thug two, played by Bryan Johnson, enters and is a nice foil to Roat. Both men want the doll, but Carlino isn’t quite as slick as Roat. Johnson creates a presence of “cop” but also of “conspirator” and finally, a sympathetic figure when he finally meets Susan. I mean, he’s a police officer, right? Susan falls for it, and so did I. Johnson shows that his character is a little off, which speaks to his ability to create a multi-faceted role. Is he a good guy or something else?
Mike Talman, played by Keanan Cantrell, poses as a Lieutenant who served with Sam in the war. Cantrell brings the most winning of ways to his character, and even though I knew the story, I found myself thinking, Oh good. Susan has a friend. I was impressed with Talman’s ease onstage, his familiarity with his character, and how effective he is in earning Susan’s trust. Bostrom and Talman make for a wonderful camaraderie onstage and her willingness to let Susan be vulnerable with this stranger is believable. Because Susan is blind, we want her to have a friend while her husband is away.
Rounding out the cast is Gloria, played by Taya Faragher. Surprisingly for me, the dynamic between Susan and Gloria is what I find the most compelling. On the surface, Gloria is a brat and annoys Susan regularly with her attention-getting behaviors. Susan’s husband has asked Gloria to help his wife and the young girl does so, but not always kindly. As the show progresses, Bostrom and Faragher form a bond, which I haven’t noticed in other productions of Wait Until Dark I’ve seen. Gloria’s vulnerability is created by the discomfort and betrayal she feels when her mother is entertaining undesirable men and the young girl flees to Susy’s apartment. Susy resents Gloria for a lot of reasons–Gloria has sight being the most obvious. But it is this shared vulnerability that got me thinking, even as I watched the show being performed, and certainly as I’ve mulled over the production since. The synchronous way these two females ebb and flow, trusting then resenting and returning to shared faith is truly interesting, and the men in the story seem to fade. I forgot the tension building when I watched these two actresses onstage. So when the plot jumped back into my view, it was all the more startling.
Because Wait Until Dark starts with a murder, I had that feeling of delicious and stressful anticipation throughout the production. And indeed, I could feel it crackling in the audience as well. No one whispered a word; the patrons appeared as if everyone was not even blinking, unwilling to miss a minute of the drama. Heiner has created a believable tableau of fear versus kindness, drama versus comedy (yes there are few genuine laughs.) This director’s finesse runs through the entire production like an unseen light.
The set, designed by Robert Seely, Spencer Powell, Gabi Peck, Katrina Young, Leah Harvey, Tyler Boylan, Jessica Moody, Michael Larsen, Peter Windsor, Elise Lacanienta, Anthony Campbell, and Jimmy Call is vintage and believable. The small touches throughout lend a realistic blast to the past. Lighting Designer Peck has the real job in the show as light and darkness play a key role in Wait Until Dark and she fulfills this perfectly. Seely’s sound design also is excellent and the suspense builds. Costume, hair, and makeup by Elizabeth Crandell rounds out the production crew’s efforts and I especially loved Susy’s jacket with the pleat in the back and Lt. Talman’s crisp uniform.
Wait Until Dark at the Covey is a suspenseful, wonderful, exciting piece of theater and I highly suggest you attend. I will say, if you or those you’re planning to bring are afraid of the dark, be aware that there is a scene (a short one) where it is completely dark. The shocking conclusion to the show is well worth a little jolt of alarm. I will swear that as the show ended, I could hear the audience exhale. This is a hold your breath finale if there ever was one.
The Covey Center for the Arts presents Wait Until Dark, by Frederick Knott, adapted by Jeffrey Hartcher.
This show plays until August 17, 2024 Monday, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 PM
The Covey Center for the Arts, 425 W Center St, Provo, UT 84601
Tickets: $18-20
Contact: (801) 852-7007
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