The thriller Wait Until Dark at the Geffen plays out like a cross between Double Indemnity (1944) and one of the Paranormal Activity films. Though the chills are strictly earthly ones, the tension builds slowly towards a frenzied and exciting final act climax. Like a brilliantly played game of chess, patience is required and rewarded.

Alison Pill and Adam Stein. Photo by Michael Lamont

Wait Until Dark comes to the Geffen after many incarnations. Beginning as a stage play by Frederick Knott (Dial M for Murder), the film version garnered an Academy Award nomination for it’s star, Audrey Hepburn in 1967. The original play and film were set in the late 60s, when the women’s movement for equal rights was in full swing. The film’s heroine, Susy Hendrix, with her pixie haircut and boyish manner were perfect for the time.

Forty-seven years later, the Geffen commissioned Jeffrey Hatcher to update this classic.  Instead of moving the play forward in time, he smartly thrust the characters back to Greenwich Village in 1944. Planting the heroine’s feet firmly in her mother’s generation, this cultural shift turns the script from a dated piece of melodrama to a pulp fiction mystery for a modern audience. No longer expected to have the pluck and stamina to survive alone, Hatcher’s Susan is more wilting in the face of danger until she realizes that her blindness gives her a surprising edge.

Alison Pill (The Newsroom, Scott Pilgrim vs The World) plays Susan, with all of the grit and determination of Barbara Stanwyck. Beautifully balancing tender moments of frailty and strength, her bouncing curls and girlish heels belie the toughness of her spirit.  A fragile beauty, she is luminous to watch.  Her stage presence an undeniable nod to “Old Hollywood” that lifts the production with her cinematic star quality.

Left alone in her basement apartment by her war photographer husband, recently blind Susan must face off against conmen who think she’s an easy mark. The men are looking for a doll filled with diamonds, a subtle script change from the original heroin. Deciding on the “the four-sided triangle” con game to outwit her, they hide in a milk van across the street to wait.

The set’s cozy quarters have been aptly constructed by designer Craig Siebels.  Containing a small kitchen and living room onstage with stairs leading to street level and a door to an offstage bedroom, there are plenty of places to hide and set pieces for Susan to stumble over.  The onstage highlight is a window where the conmen use venetian blinds to signal each other. Water splashes onto the panes from a rainstorm outside as the storm brews within.

Adam Stein plays her key adversary, Roat, with slightly too much mustache-twisting villainy and I’m still unclear why his character has a penchant for disguises in a con game with a blind woman. Rod McLachlan plays the bumbling Carlino, a sympathetic dolt and former cop caught up in a dangerous game above his pay grade and intellect. Mather Zickel, as Mike, appears at Susan’s doorstep looking dashing in his officer’s uniform.  His good looks and amiable style make Mike menacingly appealing as he slyly seduces her and convincingly gains her trust.

Adam Stein and Alison Pill. Photo by
Michael Lamont

Brighid Fleming plays Susan’s neighbor Gloria, an intelligent young girl prone to fits of anger, who proves to be Susan’s only trustworthy ally.  Matt McTighe plays Susan’s absentee husband, Sam, who rushes in to rescue his damsel in distress, only to discover that she has already rescued herself.

Under the direction of Matt Shakman (founder and artistic director of the Black Dahlia Theatre), the play moves along at a slow boil until the final electrifying conclusion.  Alison Pill’s exquisite portrayal of Susan had me spellbound as I watched her realize her perilous situation and quickly formulate a plan for survival.  With glittering intensity in her eyes, she summons Gloria to help her plunge the audience and the conmen into complete darkness. Her blindness, a disadvantage from the start, finally gives her the upper hand as she battles for her life.

The Geffen’s world premiere adaptation of Wait Until Dark is a dazzling cat-and-mouse drama complete with a daring dame, danger, and diamonds. What else could you be waiting for in the dark? Go see it.

Performances in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse through November 17th.
Tickets are available in-person at the Geffen Playhouse box office,
via phone at 310-208-5454 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.com