Wait Until Dark Is So Good Even a Blind Person Can See It’s the Perfect Twisty, Turny, Edge of Your Seat Thriller to Close out the Season With.

Dark and Stormy Productions finds the perfect show to fill the vacuum that is the theater scene between the end of Fringe and the post-Labor Day launches of the new theater seasons with their new production of Wait Until Dark. I had, of course, seen the classic film adaptation years ago, and I’ve actually seen a stage production of the play pre-blog at Lyric Arts. That was a while ago, but even with all the shows that have come between, I have no doubt this is the superior production. Everything works: the pacing, the performances, the lighting, and the set design. This is a show that works like clockwork, if you don’t count the start time.

That’s a little joke. There was a performer who had some travel issues, and our performance started a half-hour late. The company’s Artistic Director and star of the play, Sara Marsh, came out, explained the situation, and smoothed things over with free wine and bottled water. The biggest compliment I can pay the show is to tell you that, even on a Thursday night, it was worth the wait.

For those unfamiliar with the story, three criminals prey upon a blind woman, Susy, in an attempt to retrieve a doll full of drugs. They send her husband off on wild goose chases and then move in. One poses as an old friend of her husband’s, another as a policeman, and the third as someone looking for a woman. Not content to try and find the doll by stealth, they conceive of an elaborate con to try and convince her that her husband has been unfaithful and murdered his mistress. Their big mistake is underestimating Susy, mistaking her blindness for helplessness.

Marsh plays Susy’s intelligence rather than her blindness as her defining characteristic. Marsh knows just how to show us this intelligence, it’s in the way she listens and reacts to events as small as the opening and closing of window blinds. I’m thinking of a particular moment when a phone ringing signifies a 180-degree turn in Susy’s understanding of the events that have been unfolding. It’s a moment that could give a less capable actor and director difficulty in how to convey it to an audience. Marsh and Director Benjamin McGovern make the moment crystal clear.

The entire cast is terrific, but I have to give a shout-out to Paul de Cordova, who stepped in rather late into the show’s rehearsal process for Luverne Seifert, who ran into some health issues. Playing the leader of the criminals, de Cordova is wonderful as the ruthless Mr. Roat, able to seem harmless or menacing on the turn of a dime. Also deserving of a special shout out is Madelyn Tax as the young neighbor girl Gloria. A twenty something woman playing a young girl around 14 years of age can be tricky and very easily veer into annoying territory. Tax completely avoids the usual landminds of such a performance and completely realisticly pulls off a convincing performance.

McGovern directs with precision. This production speeds along; not a moment feels wasted or drawn out. The blocking, particularly in the blackout climax of the show, has a natural stumbling element that only successfully comes from a cast that has their blocking down pat. Lighting Designer Shannon Elliott’s contributions are key to the climax of the show and are executed perfectly.

I’m surprised, given the multiple productions we’ve seen of Dial M for Murder and Misery over the last few years, that we don’t see this classic staged more often. This is tense, edge-of-your-seat stuff, and it plays with the audience in a way few thrillers can pull off. Wait Until Dark runs through September 13 at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://www.darkstormy.org/

I want to alert you faithful readers to a new Website that has just started up in the Twin Cities. It’s called 79 Seconds on Stage and it is a free and full guide to local theatre in the Twin Cities.

Don’t rely on Facebook or Instagram algorithms to keep you in the loop about great shows. Subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN delivered straight to your inbox. It’s the best way to make sure you never miss out on the theater action. To subscribe on a computer, enter your email address on the home page (right-hand side) and click subscribe. On mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the same option. You can also follow me on Facebook @thestagesofmn and on Instagram thestagesofmn.