Deathtrap 

Review by Neal Weaver 
Lonny Chapman Theatre 
Through May 20 

RECOMMENDED  

Novelist and playwright Ira Levin earned himself the informal title of “dean of thriller writers “with Rosemary’s Baby, The Boys From Brazil, and The Stepford Wives. Deathtrap had a long and successful run on Broadway, was made into a movie starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, and has become a staple for small theatres everywhere. (This writer has seen three productions.)

Levin assembles all of the genre’s standard ingredients, from startling plot twists and comic characters to shockers that wring gasps from his audience. His play begins as a tale about writer Sidney Bruhl (Robert Benedict Nello), who was once a highly successful thriller writer. But his last four plays have flopped, and he’s been reduced to living off his wealthy wife Myra (Gina Yates).  When, in the mail, Sidney receives a script from young writer Clifford (TJ McNeill) — his former student in a playwriting seminar — he’s surprised to discover that it’s a nearly perfect suspense drama, with all the necessary ingredients for a rousing commercial success. He immediately begins to speculate as to how he could steal the play and present it as his own, leading Myra to fear that he is about to murder the young man. But when Clifford arrives on the scene, he isn’t quite the naïve youngster that he first seemed to be, and he has a few tricks of his own up his sleeve.

Adding to the fun are two additional characters: Porter Milgrim (Lloyd Pedersen), Sidney’s lawyer and himself a would-be playwright, and Helga Ten Dorp (LizAnne Keigley), an eccentric psychic with a knack for sussing out hidden circumstances — though her intuitions are not always entirely correct.

As suspense builds, and the body count rises, there are startling surprises, dramatic reversals, and some genuinely shocking moments.

Director Jules Aaron gives the piece a slick, finely articulated production, aided by an able cast. Nello neatly captures Sidney’s essential ruthlessness along with his cynical urbanity, while Yates’s Myra is a fearful wife who doesn’t want her husband to commit murder, though she’s strongly tempted by the wealth and fame it might lead to. And McNeill’s Clifford is appropriately brash and wily. Pedersen’s Milgrim is a seemingly benevolent soul, with a hidden vein of determined ambition. And Keigley’s Helga combines a touch of looniness with a taste for self-promotion.

Chris Winfield provides the handsome interior set, ornamented with a display of exotic weapons, while all the other technical elements contribute to the suspense.

The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (818) 763-5990(818) 763-5990 or www.thegrouprep.com. Running time: two hours and 25 minutes.