MOUNT VERNON — Bruce Jacklin & Company will be presenting “Death Trap” at The Alcove Dinner Theater tonight and Saturday, as well as Oct. 29-30 and Nov. 5-6.
The play begins with accomplished writer Sidney Bruhl finding himself having trouble writing his next big play. It has been 18 years since he has had a hit on Broadway and after his last few productions flopped in the box office, he becomes desperate. He then reads a play by young writer Clifford Anderson and decides to steal it and kill him.
From this point on the twists and turns come at a rapid-fire pace and to tell more would ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen the play.
Suffice it to say it is very well done as a comedy-drama having been written by noted playwright Ira Levin.
It was directed by Bruce Jacklin and has his usual stamp of excellence. The characters are well cast and knew their lines and marks for the dress rehearsal.
John S. Kuhn is cast as Sidney Bruhl and has a resume a mile long. He has taught acting for 20 years at various institutions including Oberlin College. He is perfect as a faded yet manipulative writer.
His wife, Mary Bruhl, is superbly played by Catherine Blair-Wilhelm, a veteran actress with a very long list of credits. Her turn as the wife who is nervous about her husband’s threats to kill the young playwright is the perfect turning point for the many plot twists in the play.
Andrew Duffy is perfect as the supposedly naive and awestruck wunderkind first-time playwright of whom veteran playwright Bruhl is supposedly jealous. Duffy supplies the one genuinely scary moment in the whole play.
