Deathtrap by Ira Levin

Spotlight on Learning a Pioneer Theatre Company Classroom Companion Deathtrap Thom Sesma as Sidney Bruhl and Devin Norik as Clifford Anderson in Deathtrap. Photo by Alex Weisman. by Ira Levin Written by Ira Levin | Directed by May Adrales March 28 - April 12, 2014 Pioneer Theatre Company’s Student What would you do for success? Matinee Program is made possible One of the greatest mystery thrillers in our American canon, through the sup- Deathtrap is superbly constructed, with impeccable, smart, cun- port of Salt Lake ning dialogue and an exhilarating action plot. It holds the record County’s Zoo, Arts for Broadway’s longest running comedy-thriller. But its medita- and Parks Program, tion on the dark Machiavellian underbelly of the theater makes it a personal thrill for me to direct. Salt Lake City Arts Council/Arts Learn- A taste of commercial and critical success in the theater is like ing Program, The a drug – euphoric, short-lived and always leaving you hungry for Simmons Family more. Every theater artist knows the thrill of success, and every Foundation, The theater artist knows the abysmal public humiliation of failure or Meldrum Founda- “the flop.” Just because you write or direct one hit doesn’t mean tion Endowment that it will ever (ever) happen (ever) again. And when critics at Fund and R. Harold national publications deride your talent and nonchalantly dis- Burton Foundation. count your work (which takes usually three to five years to create), it can lead to sniveling despair, a tattered self-worth and Spotlight on Learning is provided ruthless Machiavellian ambition. to students in Salt Lake County through a grant provided by the Ira Levin pokes fun at this all too real anxiety that theater artists George Q. Morris Foundation feel with every artistic endeavor. Does the show even work? Will they like it? Will critics pee on it? Will it lead to more opportu- nity? Or will this be my last show, my last paycheck ever? And in Approx. running time: this devilishly clever play, Levin makes you laugh pitilessly at this 2 hours and 30 minutes, including despair. one fifteen-minute intermission. So go ahead – guffaw at how low we grovel to have another hit play! Marvel at how smart, talented adults resort to childish, Student Talk-Back: impudent impossible behaviors! Laugh at our expense! There will be a Student Talk-Back directly after the performance. ~ May Adrales, Director Page 1 Fasten Your Seat- And now, a joke: According to James N. Frey, A rabbi, a priest, and an belts: It’s Going to Be author of How to Write a Damn imam go into a bar and Good Thriller, “a thriller is a sto- a Bumpy Night order a drink. “What is ry of a hero who has a mission this,” asks the bartender, by Elizabeth Ferguson, Associate to foil evil. Not just a hero—a “a joke?” Dramaturg clever hero. Not just a mission—an ‘impossible’ mission. What makes a good thriller? Is Consider: What does the word An ‘impossible’ mission that will it the unexpected reversals? “this” refer to in each of these put our hero in terrible trouble.” The high stakes? The conniving two examples? The answer to In Deathtrap, Levin gleefully toys villain or the clever hero? The that question is, essentially, with this notion—our clever hero thriller is a genre that relies on the definition of the “meta” in is certainly in terrible trouble a balance of pacing and sus- “metatheatre.” and has an impossible mission. pense designed to keep us on But “evil” is in the eye of the Bogged down by writer’s block, the edge of our seats. Often beholder. playwright Sidney Bruhl looks mistaken for mystery, which for his next big idea. A student typically involves solving a crime sends him a script that’s titled that has already occurred, the Metatheatre Deathtrap and has the poten- thriller discovers the mystery as by Heather Nowlin, Asst. tial to be the next biggest hit in it unfolds, sometimes even two Marketing Director town. With that, Sidney begins steps ahead. The tension is de- to scheme, and work his way rived from the story’s dangerous The word “meta” can mean through the play we are watch- possibilities. In a psychological many things: Marked by change ing—which is also, we are thriller, the focus is on the inner or transformation; later in time reminded, called Deathtrap. The psyche of the characters who or development; behind, beyond; plot points in the play become play intricate mind-games and transcending, above, upon, or the plot points in the play… And weave complex manipulations. about. From its Greek root, the we are soon watching metathe- prefix meta- means beside or Ira Levin is one of the acknowl- atre at its finest. after. edged masters of the thriller, “Metatheatre is an attempt by writing his award-winning first In storytelling, however, the defi- certain plays to challenge the- novel, A Kiss Before Dying, in nition is more narrow. atre’s claim that it is a mirror for 1953 at the age of only twenty- Take a look at a painting by reality. By calling attention to the two. The book was quickly made American “pop” artist Roy Lich- strangeness, artificiality, illusori- into a film starring Robert Wag- tenstein: ness, or arbitrariness -- in short, ner, Jeffrey Hunter, and Virginia the theatricality -- of the life Leith. In his fifty-year career we live, it marks those frames as a playwright and novelist and boundaries that conven- Levin wrote several hits, many tional dramatic realism would of which were later turned hide.” into films, including the chill- ing Rosemary’s Baby, The Boys Source: https://courses.cit.cor- from Brazil, and The Stepford nell.edu/engl3270/327.meta. Wives. Levin’s biggest Broad- html way smash, Deathtrap, which won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Play in 1980, ran for four years and was made into a film in 1982, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Page 2 call.’ They proceed through each Mortal Combat fight twice, once at half speed by Heather Nowlin and once at full speed. In total- ing all fight calls and perfor- Conflict in the theatre comes in mances, by the time the produc- many forms: character-to-char- tion closes, the actors will have acter, inner, conflict with setting safely strangled, shot, stabbed, or with the universe in its vast fallen, or bludgeoned each other scope. And sometimes that well over 200 times!” conflict culminates in physical Part of stage combat involves weaponry turmoil – fighting between char- DuVal returns to PTC on the of all types. Pictured here are Thom acters, hand-to-hand or sword-to- heels of playing Don John in, Sesma with a crossbow, Gayton Scott sword. When that happens, the with a broad axe, and Devin Norik in and serving as fight choreogra- Houdini’s handcuffs. fights that are repeated in each pher for, Much Ado About Noth- performance must be safe and ing – a very different show from by the characters, has been a controlled, and at the same time Deathtrap. “Each production large part of our work.” believable and grounded in the that I work on requires a differ- The violence also has to do with actor’s craft. ent style and a different story the comedy in the piece, as that needs to be told,” he said. And that’s where the Fight Cho- strange as that may sound. “The “Collaborating with a director reographer comes in. combat helps to create a world and actors to help them find a of the play that is both disturb- Stage combat keeps actors physical vocabulary within the ing and somehow shockingly safe and audiences entertained violence that is safe for the ac- amusing. The murder mystery using the illusion of violence tors, thrilling for the audience, potential of the serio-comic dark- onstage. Stage fighting must and helps to further the story ness of human nature is high- look effective to an audience of the play is greatly satisfying.” lighted within the violence.” member, and be safely repeat- He describes fight choreography able in rehearsals and in every as a natural extension of acting. As an actor and fight director, performance. In fact, Deathtrap “Stage combat without a deeply DuVal’s work has been seen fight choreographer Christopher specific acting investment be- for over 20 years at such the- DuVal recently told us, “Prior comes a series of empty tricks atres as South Coast Repertory, to each performance, the ac- and illusions that bears little Shakespeare Orange County, tors gather to review every fight resemblance to the complicated Sacramento Theatre Company, in the play. This is called ‘fight nature of human conflict.” Idaho Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Deathtrap is classified as a Theatre Center, Syracuse Stage thriller, even though there is also and thirteen seasons at the Ore- a lot of comedy woven into the gon Shakespeare Festival, where story, and DuVal said that a psy- he worked on over 30 produc- chologically thrilling experience tions including Othello, Comedy for the audience is a priority with of Errors, Henry V, Twelfth Night, this project. “Without giving too Henry VI, Hamlet, The Winter’s much away, the violence in this Tale, and many others. He is a production needs to have a very Certified Teacher with the Soci- real feel. The nature of the illu- ety of American Fight Directors, sion of violence that the char- a Senior Instructor with Dueling Fight choreographer Christopher acters are trying to simulate, Arts International, and holds a DuVal helps Devin Norik (Clifford in coupled with the nature of the 2nd degree black belt in Aikido, Deathtrap) fall down some stairs, as real violence that is perpetrated and an MFA in Acting.

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