[NEohioPAL] Review of "Deathtrap" at Fine Arts Association

[Bob Abelman]

Willoughby's Fine Arts offers a dull-edged 'Deathtrap'

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 10/26/12

 

 

"Pain!!!!" screeches Helga, the Scandinavian psychic in Ira Levin's "Deathtrap," as she enters the stage and senses murder most foul.  

 

It is likely that she is also picking up on the vibe from the audience during this very tepid Fine Arts Association production of this comedy thriller.

 

The premise of "Deathtrap" is that middle-aged murder mystery writer Sidney Bruhl is in need of a killer idea.  Once the toast of Broadway, Sidney is now void of creativity and desperate to maintain the wealth and stature to which he and his wife have grown accustomed.  When a young, unknown playwright sends him a script to die for, the has-been writer sees a lethal opportunity to claim the work as his own.  In a creative twist that blurs the line between fact and fiction, the script in question lays out the very plot of the play in progress.   

 

"Deathtrap" ran for over four years on Broadway in the late-1970s, but it is not an easy play to do well or to do on the community theater stage.  It requires performers capable of sustaining suspense while delivering with a straight face all the imbedded self-deprecating references to murder mysteries the play has to offer.  

 

The cleverly devised twists and turns need to come out of nowhere, with the formulaic conventions employed for their creation camouflaged by the eloquence of their execution.   

 

This Fine Arts production falls short in these areas.  

 

Bill Brady tries hard to balance Sidney Bruhl's acerbic wit, air of entitlement and evil intentions, but he is neither dramatic nor energetic enough in his choices to keep things interesting on stage.  Chase Thomson, as the enigmatic young playwright Clifford Anderson, gives us little more than a line reading in his delivery.  Preoccupied with their own precarious endeavors, no relationship between the two is ever established. 

 

The audience is left watching their exploits but not investing emotionally in them over the course of the evening.  Without an emotional investment, there is no suspense.  Without suspense, the comedy intended to relieve it falls flat.  Without the comedy, it is a long evening indeed.

 

Because Brady and Thomson offer so little for Amy Broich to play off of, her portrayal of Sidney's neurotic and physically frail wife lacks viability and vitality.  By comparison, Marcia Mandell is way over the top as the psychic Helga ten Dorp, performing as if in a different-albeit more entertaining-play than everyone else.  

 

Only Robert McCoy as Sidney's attorney, Porter Milgrim, comes out unscathed in this production.  However, his character is fairly inconsequential to the play's proceedings, serving only to raise doubts rather than drive the drama.  Another of his functions is to provide a plausible ending to this play, which made him one of the most popular actors on stage during the opening night performance.

 

Director James Mango is ultimately responsible for the dull edges on the many weapons the playwright provides, but it is clear from how he places his players on stage that he gets the genre and has a clear vision for how this play should unfold.  Mango is also the set designer for the gorgeous Connecticut cabin that houses the Bruhls, providing a space for this play that is, unfortunately, sturdier and more impressive than the performance occurring within it.

 

"Deathtrap" runs through October 28 at the Fine Arts Association's Corning Auditorium in Willoughby.  For information or tickets, which are $20, call 440-951-7500 or visit  www.fineartsassociation.org.
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