Review: DEATHTRAP Ensnares with Wit and Style at NextStop Theatre Company

DEATHTRAP is an old fashioned, twisty thrill ride. NextStop Theatre Company puts the thrill back in thriller with a briskly directed, well cast production of the venerable potboiler. Sure it's a little old fashioned, but once in a while, the theatre is a great place for an escape into a neglected dramatic form that used to fill Broadway houses every season but is now relegated to regional and community theatres. And that is not a bad thing at all.

They don't make them like DEATHTRAP anymore. Think about it for a moment. The genre of theatrical entertainment known as the thriller - the tightly constructed, small cast, single set play with twists and turns and a sense of danger lurking around the corner remained a staple on Broadway for most of the 20th century. THE BAT, THE LADIES IN RETIREMENT, ANGEL STREET, DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER, and later WAIT UNTIL DARK all enjoyed long runs. Ira Levin's DEATHTRAP took many tropes of the genre and wrapped them around into a comic puzzler that kept a tongue in the cheek while delivering chilling moments of murderous intent.

Between local productions and the memory of the successful 1982 film adaptation, the story should be very familiar: down on his luck playwright Sydney Bruhl is desperate for a hit play and hatches a plan to steal brilliant first-time effort from a young writer. Sydney's wife Myra, with a conveniently delicate heart condition, is skeptical that the plan will work and is concerned he will take things too far. As they sing in Sweeney Todd, "What happens then? Well, that's the play" and I'll be damned if I am going to give it away.

Director Evan Hoffmann has just the right touch for DEATHTRAP to succeed on its own terms - not taking itself too seriously while keeping the tense what-will-happen-next? momentum of the play moving right along. Hoffmann's cast handles the material with aplomb, and given the five character cast, this is a huge plus. In other words, there are no weak links among the players and everyone serves the play, keeping their cards held close to the chest until the pay-off moments of shock and surprise pop up.

As the middle-aged, urbane playwright Sydney, Peter Holdway has just the right balance of Noël Coward sophistication and Vincent Price menace for the juicy role. It is a showcase for an actor - dialogue laced with bon mots, playing head games with the other characters and the audience - and Holdway makes it his own. As his devoted wife Myra, Susan d. Garvey masterfully underplays her character's health challenges until just the right moments. Garvey also holds her own with Holdway as they exchange banter and exposition effortlessly. As the pivotal young playwright who becomes embroiled in Bruhl's schemes, James Finley has a field day playing Clifford Anderson, a strapping galoot with secrets of his own.

A thriller would not be complete without the fourth and fifth characters, handled by local stage veterans Lorraine Magee and Frank Britton. Magee plays the colorful role of celebrity psychic Helga ten Dorp complete with a thick Swedish accent and scene-chewing relish. She injects her few scenes with an eccentric energy and adds the appropriate amount of spooky vibe to the proceedinings. Britton, making his NextStop debut, is Sydney's attorney. A potentially throw away role becomes a much more interesting an engaging character as Britton plays him.

The intrigue and skullduggery all takes place on a set that deserves an award for scenic design. Devised by J.D. Madsen and executed by NextStop Theatre Company's technical director Jack Golden among others, the intimate venue is transformed into a rustic and roomy home for the Bruhl's, a converted barn melded to a Colonial home. The set reeks of New England, with a crackling fire and magnificent beamed ceilings. As in other productions of Deathtrap, the set is decorated with a deadly assortment of weapons, including pistols, daggers, and a crossbow that also serves as props for the deadly games afoot. Madsen's set is lit with expertise by AnnMarie Castrigno whose work also enhances the air of mystery. Stan Harris' sound design work cannot be ignored either, although there were a few times when my eardrums needed a break from the stinging audio effects.

Assisting Hoffmann's precise direction and the actors' sharp performances, fight director Kristen Pilgrim provides a lion's share of thrilling moments that are shock and surprise and are more than just a little bit convincing.

Knowing DEATHTRAP ran for several years on Broadway and has enjoyed a long life on stages throughout the country does not change one tiny caveat, by my estimation: the ending. I don't mean the "big" ending that comes right before what I would term an epilogue, of sorts. That scene yanked me up and out of my seat. The very last scene, when there are only a few characters left, just made me want to cry out "Foul!" like a testy referee. But Hoffmann and and his game company of actors at least tried to make lemonade out of the lemon Ira Levin left with them.

If we gave out ratings at Broadway World, I would offer NextStop four big ones for a good, old-fashioned, twisty, thrill-ride of a play that crackles with wit and delivers a bloody good time.

The play runs two hours with one intermission. DEATHTRAP runs through November 22, 2015

http://www.nextstoptheatre.org/shows/deathtrap

NextStop Theatre
269 Sunset Park Drive
Herndon VA 20170
(About 5 minutes from Washington's Dulles Airport.)

Deathtrap by Ira Levin. Directed by Evan Hoffmann and featuring Peter Holdway, Susan d. Garvey, James Finley, Lorraine Magee, and Frank Britton.

Set designer: J.D. Madsen. Lighting designer: AnnMarie Castrigno. Costume designer: Kristina Martin. Sound designer: Stan Harris. Fight director: Kristen Pilgrim. Production stage manager: Laura Moody.

Photo Credit: NextStop Theatre Company/Traci J. Brooks Studios

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