Review: Ira Levin's Popular DEATHTRAP Revives Once More
By: Don Grigware Apr. 16, 2018
Deathtrap/by Ira Levin/directed by Jules Aaron/Group rep at Lonny Chapman, NoHo/through May 20
Broadway had one of its greatest commercial hits and the longest running comedy-thriller with Ira Levin's Deathtrap in 1978, and it was later on film in 1982 with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Like Sleuth before it, Deathtrap makes a game out of murder with plot twists too numerable to mention, and adds just a small amount of comedy to make it all palatable. It's a play within a play, making it doubly intriguing to watch. Now on stage at Group rep, this new production of the classic is sturdy with fine direction from Jules Aaron and a top notch cast.
Playwright Sidney Bruhl (Robert Benedict Nello) has dried up as of late and is in desperate need of a hit. Enter Deathtrap, a thriller penned by a former student Clifford Anderson (TJ McNeill). Reading it and recognizing its great potential for success and money, Bruhl becomes envious and allows a whole batch of wicked ideas to take control of his brain. What follows are a collection of bizarre plot twists, which if I give away, will ruin your enjoyment of the play, so I won't. Suffice to say, Sidney has a wife Myra (Gina Yates), who wants him to succeed but has difficulty overall with violence and murder because of her weak heart. Anderson pays a visit to Sidney's Westport, Connecticut home, and the rest...you must witness for yourself. Blackouts, thunder, lightning, unexplained noises, screams, antiquated weapons... even a nosy psychic neighbor Helga Ten Dorp (Lizanne Keigley), who delightfully intrudes at the most inopportune moments... it's all here for your enjoyment.
Nello is exacting and fearless as Sidney, his brain overworking 24/7, as he knows how to write and plan the perfect murder. Yates is both intense and terribly vulnerable as his incredulous wife. She's a terrific reactor! McNeill makes Anderson at first likeable, but later more mysterious and dishonest, creating the ideal foil for Sidney's brilliant mastermind. Keigley is a more realistic Helga, but never missing a beat with her exaggerated delivery. Aaron wanted Helga played as less flamboyant. I disagree with his interpretation, having seen the play many times. She is a character who should be totally different from everyone else, a singularly true oddball. Maybe change Keigley's hair or outfit. Something more is needed here. Lloyd Pedersen has the small role of Porter Milgrim, Sidney's lawyer, who plays into the action more than at first glance. No such thing as a small or thankless part onstage! Chris Winfield's set is excellently decorated in detail with multiple theatre posters and a wide variety of weapons, contemporary and archaic, supposedly used through the years onstage in all of Bruhl's plays.
As mentioned earlier, I have seen Deathtrap many times, and I never tire of the cat and mouse games played by the protagonists. The play is so attuned to the theatre, in its great as well as floundering moments. As Bruhl and Anderson are collaborating, plotting and fleshing out their supposed mystery thriller, they are talking about the identical story elements and details that we are privy to have unfolding before our very eyes via Levin's clever script. Act I is excellently paced by director Aaron with every surprise element in tact. Act II, however, becomes plodding. Despite the energetic staging and the skillful moves of the two actors Nello and McNeil, somehow their scenes become an expected give and take. Also the final scene between Pedersen and Keigley ended rather abruptly without the comedy that is so necessary to keep the duel moving forward; it should end with a bang.
Go see Deathtrap! Yes, you may rent it on Netflix, but the live experience of the theatre has so much more charm and fun. Through May 20 only!
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