THEATRE -- FEBRUARY 1 TO 4 **** City Hall Theatre was packed to the gills last night at the opening of the murder mystery "Wait Until Dark'', originally written by playwright Frederick Knott and performed by the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society.

The basic plot centres around husband and wife Sam and Susy Hendrix (played by Paul Matthews and Juliana Jack), who are being tracked by a con-man and his two thugs.

The couple has captured the attention of the con-man (played by Brian Webb) because of a doll they have in their possession -- a doll which husband Sam carried out of Germany at the urgings of a mysterious woman who later turns up dead.

As a penultimate warning for locals against carrying around other folks' baggage, it turns out (surprise, surprise) that, unbeknownst to Sam, the doll so urgently sought is stuffed with a kilo of heroin worth "a half-million quid''.

The bad guys, in an attempt to get their hands on the contraband, try to convince wife Susy that Police are implicating her hubby in the murder -- and the doll is the key to clearing his name.

Susy figures out the plot, things get ugly, and more blood is shed -- you'll have to go see the play if you want to know whose.

But ahhh... here's the catch: Susy is blind, and must "wait until dark'' if she's to have a fighting chance to outwit the dastardly fellows trying to darken her world forever.

Let me begin by saying that the play was very well-acted -- Juliana Jack did a good job of playing the distraught blind woman whose sightless fumbling was well-done, but not overdone.

And Brian Webb, who played con-man Harry Roat, did an excellent job in his portrayal of the quintessential sadistic nut.

I tend to like villains who are soft-spoken and polite until they snap -- you know, the Anthony Hopkins "Hannibal the Cannibal'' types -- because it adds more dramatic tension than the baddie who's ranting and raving through the whole play.

And although you never quite get the full impact of Mr. Roat's nastiness, you definitely get the impression that this guy could do anything.

My criticisms of the play have more to do with the script than the acting, however.

For example, I thought the idea of Susy inviting one of the ex-cons (who posed as her husband's old friend) into her house to stay made her seem more gullible and trusting than we should expect any woman -- especially a woman who was blind, nervous, and alone -- to be.

Generally the conspiracy against Susy is quite elaborate and well-constructed, which is good, but so much goes into the details of their plot that you don't really get a chance to be scared -- it was actually a bit stuffy in that regard.

And although some of those plot details were clever, the overall script was a wee bit predictable -- although there were pleasant splashes of very English styled humour.

The finale cat-and-mouse scene was constructed reasonably well, but came off a little melodramatic.

Overall, however, the play was relatively good and worth seeing if you're interested in light entertainment without too many chills.

Kim Dismont Robinson MAKING HIS MARK -- Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society Director, Gavin Wilson