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Wait Until Dark
Susy Hendrix, a blind Greenwich Village housewife, is terrorized by a trio of men looking for heroin they believe her husband has hidden in a doll.
61 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 28, 2020
For those unaware, WAIT UNTIL DARK is a thriller play by Frederick Knott of DIAL M FOR MURDER fame. His last finished work for the stage, WAIT UNTIL DARK premiered to great success in 1966, telling the story of Susy Hendrix, a woman who's recently lost her sight and finds herself terrorized by three con-men out to retrieve a shipment of heroin her husband unwittingly slipped through customs for them. Since that time, it's been a staple of community and school theaters with its one-set location and excellent use of suspense. The climactic scene, where Susy and her main tormentor Roat fight one another to the death in near-darkness, is rightly considered one of the theater's most memorable scenes.
However, the play has never been without its critics. In the 1960s, it was accused of being riddled with plot holes. When a 1998 Broadway revival with Quentin Tarantino of all people bombed spectacularly, some claimed the play was nothing more than a gimmicky relic of a simpler time. I would say this is a bit unkind: the 1967 movie adaptation holds up extremely well, for one, and the original text, when approached as a Hitchcockian period piece, its old-school charms played up, remains a taut chiller.
Around 2013, Jeffrey Hatcher re-adapted the play, setting it during World War II and giving the dialogue a hardboiled makeover. His changes are not merely cosmetic, like his calling the heroine Susan instead of Susy. He shortens the play considerably, with act one featuring two scenes rather than three and act two having only one scene instead of three. Characters are given different backstories to suit the new setting, with wartime PTSD playing a big factor in the Hendrix marriage for one thing. There is more cussing, more openly frank talk about adultery and other unpleasant topics, and a sense of griminess that Knott's comparatively cleaner original did not try to capture. The biggest change is in the character of Mike, who is absent in the first scene and whose complicity in the criminal scheme becomes a plot twist instead of a fact known to the audience from the beginning.
In some ways, this is all an improvement on the original. Certain holes from the original play are plugged up (like Susan actually trying to call the police ASAP) and we get more of a direct look into Susan's personal demons, her insecurity and fear of abandonment, which were more implied in the original than explored through dialogue. Changes I don't like include making Mike's participation a twist, which in the end came off as a pointless way to change things up. Some might prefer the faster pacing which results from cutting and condensing scenes, but I thought the original play was a perfect slow-burner, so this too might just be a matter of taste.
Do I think this play will replace the Knott original in the future, as I read someone claim in an interview with Hatcher? I'm not sure. Both versions still get performed as far as I can tell from a brief internet search. The WWII setting and the 1960s setting offer their own unique charms. The addition of multiple cuss words like the f-bomb and "Christ!" are probably going to make high schools prefer the Knott original, which had little to no cussing at all. (I suppose they could cut those out, but lines like Roat's emphatic "Fuck the doll" lose a bit when you just say "Forget the doll.")
Overall, I liked this one a lot even if I still prefer the original play. I don't see it as a replacement of Knott's original, but as a variation. If you're a fan of the original or of the movie (which I actually prefer to both play versions), you'll want to check this one out.
However, the play has never been without its critics. In the 1960s, it was accused of being riddled with plot holes. When a 1998 Broadway revival with Quentin Tarantino of all people bombed spectacularly, some claimed the play was nothing more than a gimmicky relic of a simpler time. I would say this is a bit unkind: the 1967 movie adaptation holds up extremely well, for one, and the original text, when approached as a Hitchcockian period piece, its old-school charms played up, remains a taut chiller.
Around 2013, Jeffrey Hatcher re-adapted the play, setting it during World War II and giving the dialogue a hardboiled makeover. His changes are not merely cosmetic, like his calling the heroine Susan instead of Susy. He shortens the play considerably, with act one featuring two scenes rather than three and act two having only one scene instead of three. Characters are given different backstories to suit the new setting, with wartime PTSD playing a big factor in the Hendrix marriage for one thing. There is more cussing, more openly frank talk about adultery and other unpleasant topics, and a sense of griminess that Knott's comparatively cleaner original did not try to capture. The biggest change is in the character of Mike, who is absent in the first scene and whose complicity in the criminal scheme becomes a plot twist instead of a fact known to the audience from the beginning.
In some ways, this is all an improvement on the original. Certain holes from the original play are plugged up (like Susan actually trying to call the police ASAP) and we get more of a direct look into Susan's personal demons, her insecurity and fear of abandonment, which were more implied in the original than explored through dialogue. Changes I don't like include making Mike's participation a twist, which in the end came off as a pointless way to change things up. Some might prefer the faster pacing which results from cutting and condensing scenes, but I thought the original play was a perfect slow-burner, so this too might just be a matter of taste.
Do I think this play will replace the Knott original in the future, as I read someone claim in an interview with Hatcher? I'm not sure. Both versions still get performed as far as I can tell from a brief internet search. The WWII setting and the 1960s setting offer their own unique charms. The addition of multiple cuss words like the f-bomb and "Christ!" are probably going to make high schools prefer the Knott original, which had little to no cussing at all. (I suppose they could cut those out, but lines like Roat's emphatic "Fuck the doll" lose a bit when you just say "Forget the doll.")
Overall, I liked this one a lot even if I still prefer the original play. I don't see it as a replacement of Knott's original, but as a variation. If you're a fan of the original or of the movie (which I actually prefer to both play versions), you'll want to check this one out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2025
Published 2014 —A modern-day adaptation of the 1967 play and film.
This is set in 1944 when many men are returning home from the war, some suffering from shell-sock or battle fatigue. Susan is the blind wife of Sam; they met each other while she was in the hospital following an accident and he was being treated for PTSD. They find themselves, unwittingly, caught up in three men’sscheme to get their hands on some heroin hidden in a baby doll and snuck into the U.S. When Sam is away, three men try to cajole, persuade or scare Susan into revealing the whereabouts of the stolen doll. A gripping story. People who’ve read both say this adaptation is edgier than the original. A great read for those who enjoy mysteries.
This is set in 1944 when many men are returning home from the war, some suffering from shell-sock or battle fatigue. Susan is the blind wife of Sam; they met each other while she was in the hospital following an accident and he was being treated for PTSD. They find themselves, unwittingly, caught up in three men’sscheme to get their hands on some heroin hidden in a baby doll and snuck into the U.S. When Sam is away, three men try to cajole, persuade or scare Susan into revealing the whereabouts of the stolen doll. A gripping story. People who’ve read both say this adaptation is edgier than the original. A great read for those who enjoy mysteries.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews