Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 29, 1993 TAG: 9305290236
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KAREN L. DAVIS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Staging is excellent. The action takes place in playwright Sidney Bruhl's (played by Tony Wazny) study. Set design by Dane Peake is attractive and functional, complete with fireplace and French doors.
A wall is covered by a menacing assortment of weapons as sort of a promise of things to come. These pistols, handcuffs, axes and crossbows, we learn, are old props used in Bruhl's plays.
Between scenes, a well-rehearsed properties crew sees to it that every weapon in this prop-heavy play is in the right place for the right moment.
But something was amiss on opening night, Wednesday.
The performers seemed tense, although they relaxed and warmed up a bit during the second act. Still, their lines at times sounded as if they were being delivered simply by rote memory, with little emotion.
The audience needed to feel playwright Bruhl's greed and ambition as he toys with the idea of murdering a young writer and stealing his play. We learned more about Bruhl's motives through his lawyer, Porter Milgrim (played by Michael Newnam), than we did from the character's voice or actions.
We needed to feel Myra Bruhl's (played by Li Kane) fear build as she listens to her husband's lethal plans. Without that, the thrill of suspense never builds beyond a mere question of what's going to happen next.
Fortunately, Levin's script is filled with enough twists and turns to keep the audience interested and guessing, and always surprised by the unexpected.
As the two-act play is performed, another play is being written by Bruhl and his assistant, Clifford Anderson, played by Michael Mansfield. And still another play-within-a-play is being acted out as the audience tries to figure out who the real victim is going to be.
But the production relies too heavily on the mechanics of the convoluted plot and not enough on the characters' presence.
The most comical character is next-door neighbor Helga Ten Dorp (played by Beth Ramo), a matronly psychic with a Dutch accent. She predicts a violent attack upon Mr. Bruhl and drops just enough hints to make the audience feel psychic, too.
But are her predictions dead wrong?
That question is enough to keep your attention, even if the climate of suspense isn't there.
"Deathtrap," directed by Linda LaPrade, continues at Showtimers McVitty Road Studio through Sunday and Tuesday through June 6. For reservations, call the box office at 774-2660.
Karen L. Davis, who lives in Roanoke, has reviewed theater productions for the Roanoke Times & World-News since 1986.
by CNB