Theatregoers in Paphos have had the opportunity of seeing the latest product from Stage One Theatre Group in the stageing of Frederick Knott’s 1960’s play “Wait Until Dark”.
Directed by Liz Pearce they chose to leave script and period unchanged apart from taking up the 2003 location change from New York’s Hatton Island to London’s Notting Hill. I was part of the audience on the second performance on Wednesday evening and again on the Friday, not because I desperately required a second viewing but to assist local author and former actor John Waterhouse to take up his booked seat. I had written one of my better crits for the Wednesday performance, which went into the Cyprus Mail on Friday morning. I had praised, amongst other things, the performance for its authenticity to the 60’s and Carol Page’s interpretation of the blind housewife ‘Susy Hendrix’, a role professionally interpreted by Honor Blackman, Lee Remick and in the film Audrey Hepburn.
My companion for the Friday performance was unable to concur with any of my review and disliked the production in its entirety. How here is a man seeped in the theatre who has played professionally in repertory companies, written many comedies for professional actors and loves his craft. His reactions puzzled me.
However, on reflection I think that there have been so many changes in the patterns of life – both dramatic and actual – since the 1960’s that seeing the period depicted so well by SOTG many audience members wanted the harder hitting brashness of today’s thrillers. The fact that the three villains in this piece were not polished criminals, instead they were a bit like characters in ‘Only Fools and Horses’ – but, I must add, not played for comedy – and that the play itself had the period features of Patrick Hamilton’s ‘Rope’ and Knott’s earlier ‘Dial M For Murder’, was accepted as passive by some audience members,
Isn’t it a shame that we seem to have lost some of the finesse in what we see and interpret and opine on such things as amateur without giving any consideration to the author’s requirements, the Director’s intent and the actors interpretation.
We most definitely have lost something.
Sofaman