Twists and Turns Lead to Thriller

Playwright Ira Levin loves to scare folks. And he does it with a special twist in his 1973 thriller “Veronica’s Room,” being revived at Saddleback College’s Studio Theatre.

On their second date, Susan (Cherise Wilson) and boyfriend Larry (Joshua Taylor) meet a charming old Irish couple (Rosaleen Klein and James Harris) in a restaurant near Boston. Because Susan so resembles Veronica, the long-dead daughter of the family for whom the couple works, Susan and Larry are enticed to the estate so that Susan can impersonate Veronica and help close an old family wound.

It’s all much more complicated than Susan could realize. She is forced to become Veronica. The characters are not who they say they are, and the years are not what the calendars indicate. The Irish couple become--well, if you haven’t seen “Veronica’s Room,” no one should ruin it for you. Let’s just say Levin’s twists keep twisting throughout.

Taylor is usually restrained and real as Larry and also as--oh no, we won’t give that away. Wilson rarely goes beyond sensible performance limits as Susan. Her transitions are capable and smooth, and when she approaches the line between terror and hysteria she artfully manages to hold back just enough to be believable.

Director W. Buck Stevens revels in Levin’s grotesqueries and his antic, gothic sensibility. In his staging he has made the play look like an early 1930s horror film, especially in the performances of Klein and Harris as the predators.

Levin’s script, like any writing for the theater, has to be taken very seriously by the director and actors. Especially in a shocker like “Veronica’s Room,” the play is terrifying only if it comes across as real. At a recent Sunday matinee, the audience giggled several times at the dated theatrics and the overboard emotionalism. The director hasn’t done his actors, or the playwright, a favor by allowing it.

* “Veronica’s Room,” Studio Theatre, Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Tuesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday matinees, 3 p.m. Ends Sunday. $7-$8. (714) 582-4656. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

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“Veronica’s Room,”

Rosaleen Klein: The Woman

James Harris: The Man

Cherise Wilson: The Young Woman

Joshua Taylor: The Young Man

A Saddleback College Theatre Arts Department production of Ira Levin’s thriller. Directed by W. Buck Stevens. Scenic design: Wally Huntoon. Lighting/sound design: Kevin Cook. Costume/makeup design: Diane Lewis. Stage manager: Jeanne Martinez.