Has anyone seen Wait Until Dark as a play version? We're doing a production of it at the Edinburgh Fringe this year and I'd be really interested to know what people feel about the differences between the play and the film, and which works better...www.waituntildarkfringe.com
shareI've seen the play a couple of times now and just finally watched the movie for the first time. I don't remember the climax of the play being quite so involved or so much at the beginning before we meet Susy, but it's been a few years and that could be my memory going bad. However, both are excellent and if you like one, you'll like the other. This is coming from someone who often finds that movie versions of plays don't live up to their hype.
Mark
http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/
good question
shareI enjoy both versions, but I prefer the movie. I think that's mainly because I find the film's dialogue a lot snappier and more colorful (for example, one of my favorite moments, Roat's "me topsy, them turvey" speech, is not in the play). I also prefer Susy preparing for the hoods' final assault by herself rather than with Gloria as in the play, and I prefer the blocking during the climax in the movie: instead of sticking by the fridge while she has Roat tapping, Hepburn's Susy runs for the door and tries getting the chain loose; I also like how Roat loops the cane over Susy's neck to pull her over to him after he thinks he's won-- it's creative, creepy, and darkly humorous all at once.
However, the differences between the two are largely due to the difference between film and theater as mediums. A play can afford to be talkier, but movies tend to work best when they tell the narrative in a visual way. The movie cuts down a lot of the dialogue, opting to either open up the story (ex. seeing how Lisa gives the doll to Sam after seeing Roat at the airport) or portray certain elements through facial expression alone (ex. during the scene with Roat tapping, in the play he verbally taunts Susy before opening the fridge, while in the movie, the audience just gets a glimpse of his creepy, knowing grin in the quick flash of match light, no dialogue needed).
At any rate, I think the movie is a great example of taking a stage property and making it feel perfectly at home with cinematic storytelling.