Deathtrap is the name of the play and it traps everyone, including the audience.
The Mercury Players describe their latest offering, running now until Oct. 28, as a “thriller in two acts” and there are definitely thrills aplenty for theatregoers here.
Once-acclaimed playwright Sydney Bruhl (Keith Simmonds) desperately wants to return to the form that saw him the toast of Broadway, but he’s lost the plot, literally. He hasn’t had a hit in 18 years.
When young writer Clifford Anderson (Alex Walker) sends him a script, he’s entranced by it, and jealous, too, because he can smell success in the making.
Times have been so thin that Sydney’s been living off whatever money his wife, Myra (Angie Brockhurst), can provide so he jokingly suggests that he just kill off this young guy and steal the play so they can get back to the high life.
She’s horrified as he laughingly develops the thought.
From there, this Ira Levin story takes all kinds of wonderful twists and tumbles. We won’t spoil it for you by giving away any more.
However, the cast, under the direction of Jennifer Cleough, performs seamlessly, hiding all the surprises until they are ready to spring them upon the audience.
Simmonds and Brockhurst are utterly believable as Sydney and Myra, and Alex Walker manages to add a gleam to his eye or a whine to his voice at just the right times.
Phaedra Fairwell’s rendition of Helga Ten Dorp leaves the crowd wondering if she truly is psychic, and Jim Cleough’s portrayal of Porter Milford is also full of surprises.
There are shows Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. at the Mercury Theatre on Brae Road in Duncan, and a matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and students. Get them at the door, and enjoy Deathtrap!
