SOUTHEND THEATRE SCENE
  • Home
    • About
    • Contact
    • Main feature writer - Kim Tobin
  • COMING UP
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
    • David Streames Interview
    • Daniel O'Donnell
    • Matt Wycliffe Interview - Million Dollar Quartet
    • Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull
    • Tony Stockwell Interview
    • Priscilla Queen of the Desert Tour - Interview with Emma Crossley
    • Phil Walker - Guitar Heroes
    • Rock for Heroes Review
    • Once the Musical - We interview Daniel Healy & Emma Lucia as we are invited to watch the cast rehearse!
    • The Overtones 2019
    • Derren Brown - Showman
    • Stephen K Amos Interview
    • Geoff Norcott INTERVIEW
    • Diversity and Kev Orkian Interviews
    • Giles Cooper talks about Nigel Slater's TOAST
    • Kristian Lavercombe - Riff Raff - Rocky Horror Show
    • Dan Partridge & Martha Kirby talk Grease the Musical
    • Village Green Festival 2019
    • Lee Mead, David Streames & Richard Foster
    • Craig Revel Horwood
    • Jenny Gayner
    • Nigel Slater
    • Alex Bourne Interview - Annie Tour 2019
    • Beverley Craven Interview
    • Gary Barlow and Tim Firth Interview - Calendar Girls
    • Tom Stade 2019 Interview
    • Karen Gibson - The Kingdom Choir
    • AJ Pritchard
    • Jonathan Wrather - The Picture of Dorian Gray - Tilted Wig Productions
    • Kevin Clifton & Graziano Di Prima Interview - Burn the Floor
    • Elesha Paul Moses Interview - Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It?
    • Juliet Mills & Maxwell Caulfield Interview
    • Juliet Mills Interview
    • Holly Liburd - The Bodyguard
    • Alexandra Burke - The Bodyguard
    • Janine Duvitski Interview
    • Matthew Kelly & David Yelland
    • Aled Jones Interview
    • Quadrophenia Live Interview with Doug Freeman
    • Diversity's Ashley Banjo, Jordan Banjo, Perri Kiely & Terry Smith
    • Ali James & James Cranfield
    • Ed Speleers, Mairi Barclay & Adam Lilley
    • Rachel Lumberg & Faye Christall Interview
    • Rain Main - Mathew Horne & Ed Speleers
    • Charles Sharman-Cox
    • Matt Terry & Antoine Murray-Straughan
    • Collabro Road to the Royal Albert Hall Interview
    • Steve Michaels - Elvis
    • Paul Young Interview
    • Joe Pasquale
    • Jersey Boys Interview
    • Colin Blunstone - The Zombies
    • Dave Kelly - The Blues Band
    • Clive John - Johnny Cash Roadshow
    • Paul Opacic & Richard Walsh
    • Vincent Simone & Flavia Cacace
    • Alexander O'Neal Interview
    • Kevin Whately - Our Finest Hour
    • Jenny Eclair - Grumpy Old Women Tour
    • Séan Aydon - Great Expectations
    • Joe McElderry Live in Concert
    • Nichola McAuliffe Interview
    • Natalie Anderson & Jonathan Halliwell
    • Geoff Norcott Interview
    • Mark Steel - Comedian Interview
    • Debra Stephenson & Alice Barlow
    • Dr Feelgood's Kevin Morris
    • Ali James Interview - Oh Yes It Is!
    • Tom Stade Interview
    • Sarah Earnshaw - Nativity the Musical
    • Karina Jones - Wait Until Dark
    • The Stylistics
    • Tom Chambers & Charlotte Wakefield
    • Jessie Wallace - Deathtrap
    • Paul Bradley - Deathtrap
    • George Kemp - The Wipers Times
    • Joe McElderry - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
    • Ian Hislop & Nick Newman - The Wipers Times
    • Chris Simmons, All or Nothing the Musical
    • Caroline Flack, Tom Chambers Interview
    • Ruth Madoc
    • Scott Reid - Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
    • Samuel Clemens, Director
    • Elizabeth Elvin
    • Ray Cooney - Out of Order
    • Susie Amy
    • Sue Holderness
    • Shaun Williamson
    • Carrie Hope Fletcher & Oliver Ormson
    • Geoff Norcott
    • Navi - King of Pop
    • Damian Williams Interview
    • Carrie Hope Fletcher Interview
    • Samantha Womack Interview
    • Les Dennis Interview
    • Clive Mantle - The Verdict
    • Stephen Bailey Interview
    • Steve Hackett Interview
    • Alastair Whatley - The Original Theatre Company
    • Paul Carrack Interview
    • Janine Johnson - Back to Bacharach Interview
    • Lewis Griffiths - Dirty Dancing
    • Ben Portsmouth Elvis Tribute
    • Paul Nicholls - Shawshank Redemption
    • Anne Odeke - Night Must Fall
    • Elaine Paige
    • Jimmy Osmond - Christmas Extravaganza
    • Brian Conley & Gok Wan
    • Jonathan Kiley - Qdos Pantomine Producer
    • Lee Mead - Some Enchanted Evening
    • Maximum Rhythm & Blues
    • Joe McElderry - Northern Light Tour
    • Carol Harrison - All or Nothing
    • Paul Cattermole - The Rocky Horror Show
    • Tommy Steele
    • Cheryl Baker - Formerly of Bucks Fizz
    • Gabrielle Cocca from Cats the Musical
    • PJ Proby Interview
    • Ashleigh & Pudsey - Mission ImPudseyble
    • I'm Cold - Alex Thorn
    • Mon Amie - supporting Jason Donovan
    • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
    • Richard Ede - The 39 Steps
    • Collabro
    • The Searchers
    • Fanny Galore
    • Paul Carrack
    • Rose Marie
    • Gary Wilmot, Noel Sullivan, Carley Stenson
    • Megan Terry
    • Sharon Rose - Little Eva in West End's Beautiful
    • Roy Chubby Brown - Britain's Rudest Comedian
    • Fascinating Aida's Dillie Keane
    • Ben Portsmouth - Elvis Tribute Artist
    • Ugly Sisters, Martin Ramsdin & David Robbins - Cinderella
    • Lauren Hall (Cinderella)
    • Michael Harrison, West End Producer
    • Brian Conley
    • Sharon Rose - X Factor
    • The Bodyguard - Zoe Birkett Interview
    • Alex Bourne (Daddy Warbucks)
    • Michael Corbidge Royal Shakespeare Company
    • Ashton Moore - Samson
    • Joe Pasquale
    • Phill Jupitus
    • Michael Sharp Playwright
    • Ray Cooney OBE
  • MUSIC
  • YOUTUBE
  • Features
    • Echoes From Essex
    • Immersive Actor Training
    • Afternoon Tea at the Cliffs Pavilion
    • N-Act Theatre Stage - Village Green
    • Chameleon Productions
    • Sheku Kanneh-Mason
    • Aladdin - Panto Cast Announcement
    • Sounds Familiar Music Quiz
    • N-Act Theatre in Schools
    • Ray Cooney comes to see Lindisfarne perform his play
    • Theatre Etiquette
    • Leigh Operatic & Dramatic Society's Backstage Crew
Picture
FREDERICK KNOTT’S THRILLER
“WAIT UNTIL DARK”

Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
Mon 30 Oct – Sat 4 Nov 2017

Karina Jones Interview
Reaching new heights

Vicky Edwards talks to actress Karina Jones about equality, life on the high wire and her involvement in the play version of one of the scariest films of all time…
Picture
Smart, talented, funny and gorgeous, Karina Jones is an impressive lady. Registered blind at the age of thirteen, she has never let her lack of sight get in the way of, well, pretty much anything. 

Studying ballet and acting, a thirst for adventure has taken her to Egypt and Istanbul, where she trained as an authentic belly dancer. She is also a trained circus performer and is one of only a handful of successful visually impaired and classically trained actresses to have a parallel career as an international aerial circus performer – a skill set that saw her perform as part of the Paralympics Opening ceremony team. 

“But it’s still not a level playing field for disabled performers,” she tells me, as we settle down for a chat during the lunch break of a rehearsal for the play Wait Until Dark, a gripping thriller by Frederick Knott (best known for Dial M For Murder) in which she plays Susy, a blind woman.

“It’s 2017 and yet I am the first blind actress to take the role of a blind person in a play that has been around since the 60s. Why? She exclaims.”

She’s got a point. She is also gracious enough to acknowledge that this ‘first’ is a real step forward. 

“Producers and directors should give disabled roles to disabled actors. A blind person wouldn’t be auditioned for, say, Desdemona – we’re not there yet – but with roles that are written as disabled or impaired I think it is only fair that they should be played by disabled actors.”
Another good point. Why hire someone to act the disability when there are talented disabled performers who can give an absolutely authentic performance? Karina nods in agreement.

“In this play I’ve totally got an advantage [over a sighted actress] because I’ve got a lot of shorthand. I’ve got a head start because I have real insight into the character. 

“When acting visually impaired lots of [sighted] actors overdo it,” she says, conceding that Audrey Hepburn did a great job with the role in the 1967 film, for which she won several major award nominations. 

“I saw the film when I was very young and I was still sighted. I do remember being really, really scared,” she confesses. 
 
Almost always featuring in polls of scary movies, Wait Until Dark is set amidst the social turbulence of 1960s London. Susy, a blind woman, falls victim to three conmen and a scam that entails drugs being hidden inside a doll. With the tension being cranked up to near-snapping point, Susy outwits her tormentors, ultimately forcing them to learn what it is to be in darkness.

“The role of the blind person is really empowering. The conmen think she’s going to be a complete pushover and she’s not. Her character goes on a massive journey and she grows in strength throughout,” says Karina.  

Asking her about her circus skills and what, in particular, motivates a visually impaired lady to do crazy things on a high wire, she pauses briefly before saying: “Apart from my parents, all my life everyone has gone around telling me what I couldn’t do. I’ve got a stubborn streak and so perhaps it was bloody mindedness, but the world expects so little of people with disabilities when we are capable of so much. Circus school changed all that for me and it was so liberating. They just said ‘yeah, it might be 12 meters off the ground but up you go!’”

Supported by Graeae Theatre Company, champions of D/deaf and disabled performers, Karina continued her training as an aerialist. When the Paralympics started and they needed disabled performers for the opening ceremony, she happily agreed to take part. 

“From there I completely fell in love with the freedom that it gave me and so went on to do more training on a professional course in Sheffield with Green Top Circus. I came to aerial later than most people, so I feel really lucky.”

But being all that way up and not able to see! Terrifying, surely? Grinning, she admits that actually it’s a case of ignorance being bliss. 

“I don’t know any different. The only time I got a bit scared was at the opening of cerebral palsy games when I knew I was high up because it took a long time for them to winch me into place. I asked them not to tell me how high I was,” chuckles Karina, who in 2016 was a guest artist with the world-famous Circus Oz in Melbourne. 

As for her acting career, as well as many stage credits, Karina’s TV work includes The Bill and the groundbreaking and hugely popular Off Their Rockers. But it is the tour of Wait Until Dark that she is focused on at the moment, and she is especially excited by the tour schedule.

“I am really looking forward to visiting Southend. I can’t wait to discover the town and to share this incredible play with audiences there. It is going to be a brilliant and thrilling production.”

Saying our goodbyes, Karina sums up her thoughts about playing Susy.

“Playing this part is, for me, an amazing thing; a real push forward for equality. It’s brilliant.” 

And so is she.

© Vicky Edwards

Website: www.waituntildark.co.uk
Facebook: /WaitUntilDarkByFrederickKnott
Twitter: @Wait_Until_Dark

30 October – 4 November    Palace Theatre, Southend            01702 351135
www.palacetheatresouthend.co.uk         
About the play...

Graeme Brookes and Tim Treloar will play Croker and Roat respectively in Frederick Knott’s thriller, WAIT UNTIL DARK. They join the previously announced Jack Ellis as Mike, Karina Jones as Susy and Oliver Mellor as Sam Henderson. Shannon Rewcroft and Thomas McCarron complete the cast as Gloria and Policeman.


The tour will begin at Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne on 24 August 2017, with a national press night on Tuesday 5 September 2017 in Richmond. 

Graeme Brookes has just finished playing Alan in The Original Theatre Company’s production of Invincible in New York City, as part of the Brits Off Broadway festival, and on tour in the UK. Graeme’s other theatre credits include The Tempest (Teatr Modrzejewskiej/Colchester Mercury), A View from the Bridge, The Rivals; A Slight Ache/The Lover, King David – Man of Blood (all Colchester Mercury Theatre) and Transmissions (Birmingham Rep).

Tim Treloar most recently played Teddy in House and Garden at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. His theatre credits include The Heart Of Robin Hood, Thomas More, Sejanus, Believe What You Will, Back To Methuselah , Richard II , Romeo And Juliet (all for the RSC), Birdsong (UK tour) and Henry V (National Theatre). His television credits include Dark Heart (ITV) and Father Brown, Framed, Casualty, Silent Witness, Doctors, Holby City and The Bench (all BBC).

Set amidst the social turbulence of 1960s London, the play follows the story of Susy, a blind woman who, left alone in her apartment, becomes the victim of an elaborate scam hatched by a group of conmen. Susy is left to fend for herself, and eventually finds a way to turn the tables on the conmen and give them a taste of life in the dark.

Frederick Knott, best known for writing Dial M For Murder, wrote WAIT UNTIL DARK in 1966. Audrey Hepburn starred as Susy in the 1967 film adaptation, for which she was nominated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress. The film is often ranked as one of the top 100 scariest films of all time. 

WAIT UNTIL DARK will be directed by Alastair Whatley, with designs by David Woodhead, lighting by Chris Withers, sound and music by Giles Thomas, fight coordination by Rc-Annie and casting by Ellie Collyer Bristow. The national tour is produced by Tom Hackney for The Original Theatre Company.
​

Website: www.originaltheatre.com 
Facebook: TheOriginalTheatre  
Twitter: @OriginalTheatre 

Home

About

MUSIC

INTERVIEWS

FEATURES

Copyright © 2015