Reviewed by Judy Richter
Despite the rotary phone and
manual typewriter, Ira Levin's "Deathtrap" remains as fresh and surprising as it was
when it became a Broadway smash in 1978. Celebrating its 72nd season, Hillbarn
Theatre makes
this point abundantly clear in its production of the classic thriller.
The
play is set in the comfortable Westport, Conn., home of Sidney Bruhl (Paul
Stout) and his
wife, Myra (Paige Cook), who has health problems. Sidney is a well-known playwright who has
written a number of wildly successful thrillers, but his recent works have
flopped. Moreover, his finances are running low.
We
meet him as he sits at his desk reading a play sent to him by a young man who
attended one of Sidney's playwriting seminars. Sidney immediately realizes that
this play could be a sure-fire Broadway hit. He's also quite jealous. Thus the
central question of "Deathtrap" emerges: How far will Sidney go for
this script? To say any more would spoil the fun as the plot takes one
unexpected, sometimes shocking, twist after another.
As
directed by Karen Byrnes, this production works well on the surprise level, but the acting is
uneven. Stout's portrayal of Sidney is so smug that it's off-putting from the
start. He also tends to overact. Cook's Myra is one-dimensional, resorting to
too much hand-wringing as she becomes more nervous about Sidney's intentions.
On
the other hand, Adam Magill is convincingly earnest as the young playwright,
Clifford Anderson, who's in awe of Sidney. Monica Cappuccini has fun with the play's most
outsized character, Helga Ten Dorp, a famous Dutch psychic who is temporarily
living next door and who comes by to warn the Bruhls of dire doings. Richard
Albert completes
the cast as Porter Milgrim, Sidney's level-headed friend and attorney.
The
handsome set is by R. Dutch Fritz, while the effective sound and lighting are by Valerie
Clear. The
costumes are by Mae Matos. Durand Garcia served as fight choreographer.
Although
this isn't a perfect production, the play itself is so well written that the
audience is in for a big treat.