33 Friday , N ovem ber 5, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakvilles Michael Brown is excit-ed about his upcoming role as adrug searching, blind woman hunting conman in his favourite type of play: a thriller. The 56-year-old will perform as one of three conmen in the upcoming Wait Until Dark mystery drama presentation by The Oakville Players that opens on Thursday, Nov. 11 at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. However, unlike his two criminal col- leagues, hes the one with a conscience. Its a part I really like a lot because hes one of the bad guys in the story, Brown said of his character Mike Talman. But hes a charming bad guy. Hes sort of a crook with a conscience. Hes a guy doing some- thing because hes forced into trying to get the doll off of Suzy, yet at the same time hes forming a bond with her. The play, written by Frederick Knott, is about a blind woman, Suzy, played by Catherine Hartnett who receives a doll from her husband and then gives it to a girl upstairs in her apartment building. Unbeknownst to her, the doll is filled with drugs and a trio of conmen soon arrives to get it back. The bad guys pose as policemen to gain Suzys trust, but she becomes suspi- cious. The play is filled with surprises and tension along the way. As the three drug-seekers are trying to outwit Suzy, Browns character experiences a struggle with his own conscience. His change of heart is gradual, but Brown said the audience should be able to pick up on it. Theres just a couple of lines here and there that will sort of show it and some of the action that hes taking so the audience will see it as well, Brown said. To play the person who has a change on stage is a challenge and its one that you look forward to as an actor. This is what you live for. It gives you direction when youre doing a play and its something the audi- ence can pick up on and see where youre going with that. This is not the first time the play has been staged in Oakville. The Burl-Oak Theatre Group performed the play at the Centre when it first opened in 1979. It was also made famous through a film adapta- tion in 1967 starring Audrey Hepburn as Suzy, a role for which she received an Academy Award nomination. This Frederick Knott thriller is just a classic piece of theatre, Brown said. Wait Until Dark for thrill of mystery SUBMITTED PHOTO Artscene Perhaps Browns idea of the plays worth is biased because he loves the genre itself. I love thrillers and murder mysteries, he said. The first play I did with The Oakville Players was actually Busy Bodies, which is a Jack Popplewell script. It was a murder-mystery-com- edy. Brown has also written plays himself. He wrote a murder mystery, titled Framework for Murder, which was performed by the Mississauga Players about five years ago. With thrillers, theres a little bit more of an edge. You never know whats going to happen, he said. In this play, darkness is so important. Its going to be dark and there will be times at the end of the play when Suzy is battling, good ver- sus evil, in the dark. The play is directed by Kim Harrington. The other Oakville performers in the play include Mark Ellis as Roat, and high school student Rachel Dance performing as Gloria, the girl upstairs. The play runs Nov. 11-14 and 17-20. The Sunday, Nov. 14 date is a matinat 2 p.m. with a special price of $22. All other dates are 8 p.m. curtain times with a cost of $27 per person. The Centre is located at 130 Navy St. For tickets visit www.oakvillecentre.ca. BACK AT THE CENTRE: Burl-Oak Theatre Group members perform in Wait Until Dark at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts in 1979 when the centre first opened. The classic is back this month and just as thrilling.