Deaththrap, Theatre Royal Nottingham
When famed thriller playwright Sidney Bruhl (Andrew Ryan) reads a brilliant manuscript by new writer Clifford Anderson (Pavan Maru), jealousy kicks in and Bruhl and his wife (Sarah Wynne Kordas) begin to wonder what lengths they would go to to financially benefit from the play. Could they trick Anderson into sharing writing credit? Or could they perhaps take inspiration from Bruhl’s plays and…kill Anderson instead?
So goes the opening premise to Deathtrap, one of three plays in the Theatre Royal Nottingham’s Classic Thriller Season 2025. As to be expected with a thriller play, Deathtrap has plenty of surprise twists and turns throughout the play, with each scene ending in suspense.
The play is entirely set in Sidney Bruhl’s study, with an intimidating back wall of knives, guns, axes, and other weapon-based memorabilia from Bruhl’s plays. Conal Walsh’s set design is well detailed and feels real. Micheal Donoghue’s stunning lighting design adds an additional layer of character to the space, and evokes just the right amount of tension and atmosphere.
Written by Ira Levin, Deathtrap is a two act play for five actors – a structure mirrored by Anderson’s in-world play. The reflection of fictional narratives onto the actual narrative is a central part of the play and is a key source for much of the drama. Although I am usually fond of a bit of metafiction, here the conceit is, at times, overly laboured and becomes repetitive.
The cast give strong performances, led well by Andrew Ryan. Ryan’s portrayal of Sidney Bruhl is engaging and he is convincing as a playwright struggling to find his next hit with clear facial expressions and effective use of physicality. He has a good sense of comic timing, delivering dry witted lines to good effect.
On the comedy-front, Susan Earnshaw’s portrayal of psychic Helga Ten Dorp is a highlight of the play. The way she holds herself on stage, combined with the accent work and perfect delivery of the dialogue combine to make for a memorable performance.
Although the cast give strong individual performances, the chemistry between the cast is somewhat lacking making the motivation for much of the play hard to believe and at times difficult to discern and follow.
The suspenseful cliff-hangers each of the scenes end on work to keep the play engaging to watch and move on with the action. However, the lead up to these is sometimes slow resulting in an uneven pace to the show. That said, some of the twists do have me on the edge of my seat when they arrive.
The scenes are well blocked out by director Karen Henson, ensuring all the action can be easily seen and followed, with clever stagecraft used to good effect at key moments in the show.
photo credit: Whitefoot photography
