"Wait Until Dark" - by Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher - Cannon Theatre (Devens, Ma.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Meghan Trask as “Susan” with Eric Cheung as “Mike” in a scene from "WAIT UNTIL DARK" by Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher now playing at Cannon Theatre in Devens, MA. through November 9, 2025. Photo Credit: Shawn Cannon)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“"The big question, Suzy, is do you want to be outside in the street? Or locked in there with Mike?”
- ("Roat") / Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher
The Cannon Theatre
Presents the Drama
"WAIT UNTIL DARK"
Written by Frederick Knott
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Ali Coes
Producer Maren Caulfield
Stage Manager Mary Beth Fletcher
Cast Includes: Meghan Trask as “Susan,” Chris Wiley as “Roat,” Eric Cheung as “Mike,” Jason Norman as “Carlino,” Sumeet Sarin as “Sam,” Hannah Abbinanti as “Gloria.”
Additional Creative Team:
Set Design - Shawn Cannon; Tech Director, Set Build - Bret Bahe; Props - Rachel Cieslik; Costumes - Shawn Cannon; Lighting Design - Chris Golnick; Set Decoration - Maren Caulfied, Shawn Cannon; Sound Design - Bret Bahe; Hair, Makeup Design - Shawn Cannon.
Performances:
October 24, 2025 through November 9, 2025
(Contact Venue for Exact Dates and Times)
THE CANNON THEATRE, 28 Andrews Parkway, Devens, MA. 01434
TICKETS:
For tickets visit www.thecannontheatre.org
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
As lights come up on Cannon Theatre's inspired production of "WAIT UNTIL DARK," the terror soon begins for someone who cannot see such light, nor any light for that matter.
And yet, for the three ruthless criminals that seek to trick and torment an incredibly brave blind woman, it is they who will soon find themselves outwitted and outnumbered.
The single set design is highly detailed for the ugly basement apartment where the story of "WAIT UNTIL DARK" takes place.
While it may not seem much, it is an apartment perfectly suited to the needs of a recently married couple simply trying to make ends meet on a budget.
It is here that the young unsighted woman is about to find herself caught up in a very dangerous game.
(Photo: The CAST of "WAIT UNTIL DARK" by Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher now playing at Cannon Theatre in Devens, MA. through November 9, 2025. Photo Credit: Shawn Cannon)
The Cannon Theatre set design is immaculately detailed.
In this run down 1940s style apartment, along the back wall, there is an ugly white refrigerator that, with its door wide open, from inside you (but not she) can see a bright white light.
A safe is located to one side with a sofa toward the front of the stage, and a kitchen table with some assorted chairs - All positioned to make things more accessible to a person without sight.
The thriller "WAIT UNTIL DARK" was first written by Frederick Knott, but then adapted into a 1967 major motion picture featuring iconic actress Audrey Hepburn who played the story’s heroine “Susan.”
The last moments in the movie are still considered among the most suspenseful scenes ever captured on film.
The cast assembled for the Cannon Theatre staging all bring their level best to the material and provide commendable performances.
(Photo: Meghan Trask as “Susan” with Eric Cheung as “Mike” in a scene from "WAIT UNTIL DARK" by Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher now playing at Cannon Theatre in Devens, MA. through November 9, 2025. Photo Credit: Shawn Cannon)
For the 2013 stage adaptation by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, which moves from the 1960s to the 1940s, it still presents a female lead character that is not only resilient in how she faces criminal adversaries in "WAIT UNTIL DARK," she also faces her own physical adversity.
In some ways, the new concept by Hatcher is effective but, in other ways, it doesn't really serve the material well.
Susan (Meghan Trask), not born blind but rather only recently became blind, is at home…alone.
Trask excels in the authenticity she brings in her portrayal of Susan
(Photo: Hannah Abbinanti as “Gloria” with Meghan Trask as “Susan” in a scene from "WAIT UNTIL DARK" by Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher now playing at Cannon Theatre in Devens, MA. through November 9, 2025. Photo Credit: Shawn Cannon)
Susan's husband, Sam (Sumeet Sarin), a photographer, has been called away on an assignment.
Sarin as Sam is fine but is only onstage for mere minutes and is not seen again until the very end of the show.
Therefore, as written, there is quite little the actor can do to make an impact.
We learn Sam was asked to hold onto a doll for an enigmatic woman as they both exited an airplane but, suddenly, the woman left in a hurry, leaving Sam with the doll.
So, Sam brought the doll home.
Under the proficient direction of Ali Coes, as the play "WAIT UNTIL DARK" unfolds, Susan’s life is put into jeopardy by crooks playing a massive “cat and mouse” game for which her only ally is young neighbor Gloria (Hannah Abbinanti) a troubled, unruly, rambunctious young woman.
Abbinanti is quite good on stage, not only serving as Susan’s only ally, but also providing some much needed humor in an otherwise dark and gloomy script.
(Photo: Meghan Trask as “Susan” with Sumeet Sarin as “Sam” in a scene from "WAIT UNTIL DARK" by Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher now playing at Cannon Theatre in Devens, MA. through November 9, 2025. Photo Credit: Shawn Cannon)
We learn that the missing woman Sam encountered was a drug smuggler.
The doll is now being sought by her accomplice, Mr. Roat (Chris Wiley), who has made the woman “an offer she couldn’t refuse” while coercing his two co-conspirators, Mike (Eric Cheung) and Carlino (Jason Norman), into implementing his scheme to recover the doll, which holds a fortune in smuggled heroin.
Among the performances in the "WAIT UNTIL DARK" six-member cast, Trask and Wiley each proves most impressive throughout. .
Forced by the script into carrying the lion’s share of the show, Trask's impressive performance as Susan completely dominates the piece.
Wiley presents Roat as a relentless and ruthless manipulator absent of any moral center, also displaying some acting versatility as Roat assumes several disguises along the way during his elaborate scheme to fool Susan into revealing where Sam “hid” the doll.
As the enigmatic Mike, Cheung was quite amiable on stage, and his character undergoes the most changes in Hatcher’s restructured adaptation.
However, lost as part of that same restructuring is the relationship between Mike and Carlino, leaving Norman less to work with in his portrayal of Carlino as a result.
Otherwise, Norman does a fine job with Carlino, especially in his scenes at the beginning of the play acting opposite Wiley as Roat.
(Photo: Meghan Trask as “Susan” with Eric Cheung as “Mike” in a scene from "WAIT UNTIL DARK" by Frederick Knott and Jaffrey Hatcher now playing at Cannon Theatre in Devens, MA. through November 9, 2025. Photo Credit: Shawn Cannon)
Gone are many wonderful originally scripted moments which showcased a newly blind Susan as she learns skills needed as a modern-day blind person.
However, with the 1940s setting, a lot of those skills may not yet have existed as much as they have in the post-1950s.
The use of the blinds and technical effects used during the show were implemented with precision.
"WAIT UNTIL DARK" continues from Cannon Theatre in Devens until November 9th, 2025 and audiences should be cautioned to anticipate riveting moments of intense adversity taking place in virtual darkness.
Coming up next at Cannon Theatre will be the holiday treat "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" beginning December 12th, 13th & 14th.
For tickets visit www.thecannontheatre.org
BUY TICKETS
Approximately two hours with one intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
She can’t see them—but she knows they’re there.
In this white-knuckle thriller, Susan Hendrix, newly blind, seems an easy mark when three ruthless criminals invade her Greenwich Village apartment.
Forty-seven years after its 1966 premiere, Jeffrey Hatcher has adapted Frederick Knott’s original script with crackling, claustrophobic, and calculated efficiency.
When the lights go out, survival comes down to nerve, instinct, and the element of surprise.
As the climax builds, Susan discovers that her blindness just might be the key to her escape, but she and her tormentors must wait until dark to play out this classic thriller’s chilling conclusion.
**Please note: This production will contain flashing lights, violence, scary situations, use of weapons and sometimes complete darkness.
ABOUT THE CANNON THEATRE
THE CANNON THEATRE was founded by Shawn Cannon and Bret Bahe, who shared a dream of creating a community theater – a place for learning, and great plays, a place where people could enjoy the company of others, laugh, and just lose themselves in the joy of artistic expression. Over the years, the theater incorporated, and then became a non-profit organization, managed so that every precious cent made from each production is carefully fed right back into the creation of the next. During the Pandemic of 2020, the theater was forced to close, as their overhead was too high, They began searching for a new space during 2021, and found it in the late summer of 2021. THE CANNON THEATRE board, which still includes the theater’s very active and passionate founders, invites you to join us and experience this welcoming community, whether as an audience member, an actor, backstage crew, or even director. We guarantee you will leave feeling satisfied!
28 Andrews Parkway
Devens, MA. 01434
# 978-448-2108
