Director Doug Giffin On “Wait Until Dark”

 

Local writer/director Doug Giffin has put work into quite a few different avenues in the past several years. This month his work as a director makes it to the stage in Spiral Theatre’s production of the Frederick Knott Drama Wait Until Dark opens July 11.It's one of five plays opening in greater Milwaukee next weekend. Giffin took the time to answer a few basic questions about the show.

First off--who plays who? The press release lists: Ruth Arnell, Matthew J. Patten, Brian Richards, Gloria Loeding, Randall Anderson, and Nate Press, but characters aren't listed.

• Ruth Arnell plays Susy, our plucky blind heroine.
• Nate Press is her husband, Sam.
• Gloria Loeding plays Gloria, the girl who lives upstairs.
• Matthew J. Patten portrays Roat, the sinister and enigmatic leader of the crooks.
• Brian Richards is Mike Talman, a con man who falls for Susy.
• Randall Anderson is Carlino, a crook who masquerades as a police detective.

This is, ideally a very intense drama. The space at Bucketworks can be relatively intimate. How are you maximizing the intimacy of the space for the show?

I think you might mean that BucketWorks can be rather cavernous… which is true! We’ve moved into a smaller corner of the Playspace, and the seating will be very close to the stage. I hope that the audience will truly feel a part of the action, especially when darkness falls and the stage is plunged into blackness!

The "home invasion" psychological horror sub-genre has been explored in great detail in the years since WAIT UNTIL DARK premiered. (Most recently in the film THE STRANGERS.) Why do another production of WAIT UNTIL DARK? What's the ongoing appeal of this kind of story?

Much of the suspense in WAIT UNTIL DARK results from the mental games the crooks play with poor Susy. From the beginning, the audience is “in the know,” as opposed to Susy. I think the fear of having your home invaded and personal space violated is a primal one that everyone can relate to.

Acting is absolutely essential to carrying across the deeper emotions in a thriller like this. How is the cast taking to the script?

You can have a well-written show, a great set, fantastic costumes – but it means nothing without memorable performances. As a director, I feel very blessed with the tremendous group of actors appearing in the show. Our actors are the foundation of this show, and they’ve truly inhabited their characters and given them their own unique personalities. I dare you not to fall in love with Ruth Arnell as Susy! %u263A

This is the second SPIRAL show this year featuring a blind protagonist. Even with Spiral being as prolific as it has been, two blind protagonists in a single year is kind of a high concentration. Is it safe to assume this is nothing more than coincidence? The character in BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE was handled remarkably well earlier this year. What draws you as a director to a story like this?

Purely coincidence. However, since Ruth played the girlfriend of Ryan Dance’s character in BUTTERFLIES, it may have given her some experience to draw on.

To me, WAIT UNTIL DARK is the perfect summer show, much like a great summer movie. It’s full of groovy characters and great performances, with edge-of-your-seat suspense and some nail-biting action thrown in for good measure!

Wait Until Dark runs July 11 – 26.