Wait Until Dark - Synopsis

Darkness brings the best sight. Photographers create an environment of absolute darkness to bring out the image captured in the film and printed on paper in the process of development. Ironical as this may sound, darkness does reveal.

An ignorant and helpful photographer, Sam, on a return trip from Amsterdam to London, brings home a bear filled with drug. The soft toy draws attention from innocent children as well as drug smugglers. After the mysterious loss of the bear, various guests, made up of three crooks, began to visit and lure Sam's visually-handicapped wife into telling them the bear's whereabouts. Each with their unique characteristics, the three crooks symbolise a range of human deepest thoughts and motives while they plot and scheme their way into the couple's household and private life. For them, the search for drug and money is just a struggle for the survival of the most ruthless.

Their plot would not have been feasible without the underlying tension of distrust, pride and vulnerability between the couple. The wife readily swings into paranoia every time there's a break in her routine such as a change in the way things are placed at home. It doesn't help that Suzy, the wife, prefers to approach strangers instead of a familiar yet much resented female neighbour for help. She is handicapped more by her pride than her blindness.

The relationship between husband and wife is subjected to a test here. Trust, and the breach of it- brings totally different consequences. The same applies in the relationship among the crooks.

While Suzy and the crooks try to outwit each other through their schemes, they also take turns to become the ignorant party- the one who is in the dark. Sometimes the one who is deemed vulnerable may not be the most ignorant one. They may know exactly just where danger lurks. The blind can lead or mislead the blind, at times.

When is one truly comfortable in the dark? Perhaps only when one is truly blind.

Darkness experienced by the eyes is not quite the same as darkness filled in the heart. "Wait Until Dark" is a play about exposing of the darkness in human heart. A heart filled with greed, selfishness, suspicion, jealousy, fear, deception and pride.

To be in the dark is to be ignorant, but darkness also exposes and reveals hidden truths. It all depends on how darkness is used, it may be the ideal condition for some and absolute no-no for others. The play seeks to explore the state of 'darkness' in different contexts. Catch the production for a thought-provoking experience. The play is adapted from an English play written by Frederick Knott.