'Deathtrap' cast balances serious moments, fun well

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

BY BARBARA TRAININ BLANK
For The Patriot-News

Some people would do anything to write a good murder mystery. Even commit murder.

Sidney Bruhl, once a successful writer of Broadway thrillers, hasn't had a hit in nearly two decades. He's living off his wealthy and emotionally supportive wife in Connecticut.

Suddenly fate holds out hope in the person of Clifford Anderson, a former student who has sent Bruhl a script to review. The script, of a play called "Deathtrap," is a surefire hit.

The question is: How far will Bruhl go for a comeback?

The answer, in the hands of master thriller writer Ira Levin, isn't obvious. There are many twists and turns in the play, which ran on Broadway for four years and was then made into a successful movie, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve.

Ira Levin is known for his macabre plots in "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Boys From Brazil," which also were turned into films. But "Deathtrap," with its play-within-a-play, hard-to-separate-reality-from-rehearsal format, is a lot funnier.

Theatre Harrisburg's cast, combining veterans and newcomers, balances the seriousness and laughter well.

While during Act II it becomes pretty clear what will happen, if not exactly how, the suspense holds up. Director Thomas G. Hostetter has paced the play well, so quiet moments are overtaken by frenetic ones. Emphasizing the human dimension of the play rather than just the suspense compensates for "Deathtrap's" outdated references, such as it's hard to relate today to a writer working on a manual typewriter.

Part of the fun is the way Levin pokes fun at theatrical egos. Bruhl has a large ego, and Rick Voight plays him like a kind of Professor Henry Higgins ("My Fair Lady"), with a lot more vulgarity and even more vulnerability. The portrayal works.

Kyle Spidle makes an impressive speaking debut (he had been in the ensemble of "Pippin") as the young, would-be playwright. His is, in a sense, a more-elusive part, but the actor captures the naivite and what might lie beneath it.

Debbie Smith-Voight's performance as Myra Bruhl (Voight's real-life wife, as well), might be the most-natural of all. Her fear of her husband's intentions and her heart condition are palpable from the actress's eyelids to her fingertips.

Comic relief is provided with relish -- and a perfect accent -- by Connie Fisher as European psychic Helga ten Dorp. It's an over-the-top performance in full control.

Harry Menear lends just the right touch as the buttoned-up lawyer.

This is a play in which the physical surroundings are key. Allen Marshall designed the elegant set. Mike Foreman, with the assistance of Sonya Mink, stage-managed a play that's particularly rich in stage weapons, theatrical posters, and other props.