Review by Tony Campbell
In 1895, the Lumière Brothers produced a 50 second silent film featuring a steam train departing a station. As legend tells it, the audience was so fearful that the train was headed towards them, they bolted to the back of the cinema.
As technology has evolved, it has become challenging to scare an audience. However, as the great theatre director Harold Prince once remarked, it is possible to enhance the danger of theatre through the manipulation of tension and the familiar made strange.
Nathan French’s distinct and defined handling of dramatic tension was the hallmark of GCLT’s production of WAIT UNTIL DARK. His intuitive grasp of the text was masterfully grounded in realism, featuring an ensemble of fully realised characters.
This classic thriller centres on a blind woman, Susy (played by Amelia White) whose husband, Sam (played by Elijah Haze) accidentally finds himself in possession of a doll containing heroin, sparking a harrowing ordeal as Susy contends with the three criminals hunting for it.
GCLT’s signature high-quality set design by Lawrie Esmond and Jeff Butterworth, imbued a murky tone throughout the theatre space; the sour colour in the walls added to the melancholic uncertainty of the play. To be flooded by the light of Ben Vlasich’s design was a chilling experience, within an apartment that lived in the shadows with fleeting segments illuminated by lamps and matches.
The lurking trio of conmen give this production its hot-blooded pulse. As the roughish Mike, Alexander O’Connell is cool and calculated. As an actor, his instincts were refined and thoughtful, underscored by a natural rhythm within his characterisation. Jon Turley’s Croker was a sinister, ruthless culprit both manic and ambitious.
O’Connell and Turley’s foreboding, even menacing, presence laid foundation for the entrance of Roat, played by Dean Giltinan. The ultimate puppet-master, the initial performative charisma of Roat soon bled away to reveal a shocking, cunning force. Giltinan’s vocal strength delivered Roat’s gravitas. With each sharp intake of breath, the audience could see the cogs turning in Roat’s mind, as he engineered the next steps in their heist.
As the trio embark on a complex rouse to further displace Susy, their convincing and evasive impersonations, weave a tight web to trap Susy, and steal the doll. French’s deft direction affords this trio the agency to float and linger throughout the apartment, like the circular motion of a wave moving closer and closer.
At the heart of the suspense is Amelia White’s striking performance as Susy. White’s sensitively considered physicality as Susy – as the character was recently blinded in a car accident – presents the challenges of relying on other instincts to comprehend their surroundings.
There was something particularly gruelling about this dramatic irony, as the audience could clearly see what Susy did not at all suspect. A stark reminder of how close some nightmares await.
As Susy’s husband, Sam, Elijah Haze was an impressive support to White’s nuanced work, as he portrayed the complex shades of their relationship. As the upstairs neighbour, Gloria, Zali Engel-Bowe’s performance was excellent and energetic, a well-studied young actor.
The relationship between the actors and the stage design elegantly emphasised the dramatic focus of the piece. The ominous static sting of radio waves in the sound design transitioned the audience to the next scene replete with aggressive cuts to black.
The climax of this play absolutely soared. As the audience gasped and exhaled, the ultimate game of cat and mouse was played between Susy and Roat. It was a showdown performed largely in darkness, where White impeccably played Susy’s blindness as both vulnerability and strength. This claustrophobic and tedious power play in chilling shadows revealed the full force of the sadistic Roat.
From the tedious rise to the explosive finale, time stands still in this unnerving thriller.
And, like the steam train on the big screen, the audience ducked for cover.
WAIT UNTIL DARK runs until 4th May, tickets are available here.
Bravo Gold Coast 