Ira Levin wrote classic thrillers including Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys From Brazil, and A Kiss Before Dying (which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1954).
Deathtrap premiered in 1978 and ran for 4 years - the longest running thriller in Broadway history. Levin won the Edgar Award, and it was nominated for 4 Tony Awards including Best Play.
"SIDNEY: Deathtrap. (MYRA turns) A thriller in two acts. One set, five characters. (Lifts a manuscript in a paper-board binder) A juicy murder in Act One, unexpected developments in Act Two. Sound construction, good dialogue, laughs in the right places. Highly commercial."
Playwright Sidney Bruhl and his wife Myra live in a handsome country home: front door, living room, writing desk, and French doors to the patio. The walls are decorated with theatrical posters, and prop weapons from his thriller plays - a mace, an axe, a crossbow, a knife. Sidney hasn't had a hit since The Murder Game eighteen years ago. After attending Sidney's seminar, young writer Clifford Anderson has anxiously sent him a draft of his first play. It will be box-office gold, they will probably make a movie. Green with envy he jokes to his wife of killing the man and stealing the play for a himself (just kidding). With the offer of mentoring, he invites Clifford over that evening, reminding him to bring the only carbon copy.
Meanwhile, mild celebrity psychic Helga Ten Dorp is staying next door and feels compelled to visit them to share her feelings of impending doom - she is sensing Death in that room, the whole house is a deathtrap. Her predictions are laughed off but very close to spot on. In an oncoming storm, Clifford arrives for an evening of urbane verbal jousting, holding Myra and the audience in suspense of what Sidney is playing at.
I could go on but you would rather be surprised. This is only Act 1, and nothing is as it seems. There are juicy surprises, reversals of plot, and theatrical tricks performed by the characters right before your eyes. Levin has been called the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, and reading this complex plot is fun and exciting.
I saw this at New York's Music Box theatre in 1981 starring Farley Granger, dubious that an audience would scream out loud - and we did, jumping out of our seats in terror.
That is the magic of theatre, and Deathtrap is regarded as one of the biggest hits in Broadway history.
Sidney Lumet filmed this is 1982 starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve.
My other reviews for Ira Levin:
1978 / Hardcover / 117 pages
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