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A CurtainUp London London Review
Deathtrap


A gifted director couldn't even harm it! — Sidney Bruhl
Death Trap
Simon Russell Beale as Sidney Bruhl and Jonathan Groff as Clifford Anderson
(Photo: Hugo Glendinning)
Set in a converted barn space with decorations making it look like a beautiful baronial hall, Deathtrap is a comedy murder mystery play for all those Mousetrap fans out there. Gracing this impressive set is the brilliantly comic Simon Russell Beale as Sidney Bruhl, a British author of the crime genre who lives in Westport, Connecticut. Although he hasn't had a hit for some time, Sidney also lectures on how to write crime plays and Deathtrap opens with the arrival by post of an exciting manuscript from one of his tutees, Clifford Anderson (Jonathan Groff).

Sidney's American wife Myra (Claire Skinner) has been subsidising Sidney's lifestyle in the absence of great royalties now he has writer's block. Whereas Myra is positive and upbeat in an almost sickly way, Sidney is jealous and cynical. His sardonic humour is delivered impeccably by Russell Beale.

There are more twists to the plot than dead ends in Hampton Court's famous maze and critics have been instructed not to reveal them for fear of spoiling the fun for future audiences, not that this critic ever does! Deathtrap, although by Ira Levin, the author of Rosemary's Baby and A Kiss Before Dying, is shamelessly one of the follow up clones prompted by the success of Peter Shaffer's Sleuth in 1972. The late seventies setting has largely been ignored in Matthew Warchus' production so that the dress is nonspecific.

Simon Russell Beale is always a delight to watch, his idiosyncratic delivery a joy, and although there are many witty one liners in Levin's script, for my money the whole play did not hang together well. True, at one point I near jumped out of my skin, but overall the plot does not grip or scare. It isn't all that comic either. Claire Skinner, a charming actress seems miscast as the American wife and the other female part, that of a dotty psychic Helga ten Dorp (Estelle Parson) is totally non credible. In fact I think that this lack of suspension of disbelief is the main problem. If you cannot believe what is happening onstage, how can you get involved or care about the characters?

The arrival of Terry Beaver as a nervous lawyer, Porter Milgrim, brings some comic relief. Jonathan Groff of Glee is the good looking draw

Rob Howell's set is beautifully detailed with many antique and modern murder weapons and handcuffs framed on the walls. Hugh Vanstone's lighting shifts too make the barn look mysterious and even sinister. I liked too Gary Yershon's atmospheric music. Matthew Warchus has a very successful track record of West End hits but the Deathtrap fireworks fail to ignite.

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Deathtrap
Written by Ira Levin
Directed by Matthew Warchus

Starring: Simon Russell Beale, Claire Skinner, Jonathan Goff
With: Estelle Parsons, Terry Beaver
Design: Rob Howell
Lighting: Hugh Vanstone
Sound: Michael Livermore
Music composed by Gary Yershon
Running time: Two hours 25 minutes with one interval
Box Office: 0844 482 5141
Booking to 22nd January 2011
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 8th September 2010 performance at the Noel Coward, St Martin's Lane, London WC2 (Tube: Leicester Square)

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