It Looks Like ‘Deathtrap’ Warmed Over

Ira Levin’s “Deathtrap,” at Muckenthaler Cultural Center’s Theatre on the Green in Fullerton, is one of those recent-vintage thrillers that piles twist upon twist and suddenly puts its audience heels over head with really shocking surprises. Like Anthony Shaffer’s “Sleuth” and others of this breed, it’s a tightly knit, intricate affair that requires delicate shaping to come off.

The Grove Theater Center’s outdoor revival is a very self-conscious staging that goes all out for laughs, paying too little attention to the sense of reality that would make it really work.

We’ll describe its plot only so far: Highly successful thriller playwright Sidney Bruhl, who’s in a slump, receives a play manuscript from a young playwright he met while giving a recent seminar.

It’s called “Deathtrap” and concerns a playwright who has just received a brilliant thriller from a young playwright, etc. There is a murder in Act 1, and several fascinating plot twists in Act 2. If only Sidney had written it himself. He needs a hit.

His loving wife, Myra, who has a weak heart, is dreadfully shocked when Sidney floats the idea of inviting the young playwright over, ostensibly to talk about collaboration, then murdering him and claiming that “Deathtrap” is his.

That evening, the young playwright, Clifford Anderson, arrives, with the only other copy of his play. After some insincere talk about working together, Sidney strangles Clifford, which weakens Myra’s heart even more. That’s the murder in the first act. Supposedly. And that’s where the fun begins.

Director Kevin Cochran’s casting causes some big problems in what should be a subtle buildup of suspense.

As Myra, Laura Gardner does an awful lot of acting, but very little of it in the service of a solid characterization, or of Levin’s detailed emotional construction. Her readings and intent are all over the place, and there is nary a moment of honesty in her performance.

David Allen Jones, as Sidney, has the opposite problem in these early scenes in a performance that is mostly on one note--well-spoken but without shading. Jones really has nothing to play against until the young playwright enters, when his conception begins to work better in the cat-and-mouse game Levin sets up between Sidney and Clifford.

Jones is still pretty bland throughout, but Doug Tompos’ nicely defined performance as Clifford finds the core of the relationship Levin has created between the two men. Jones provides a good sounding board for Tompos’ surface charm, and for his slowly developing subtext of angry ambition. Tompos manages to blend that subtext well with Jones’ laid-back reading.

As Sidney’s calm but very suspicious attorney, Ray Fulmer gives a solid and well-defined performance. Terra Shelman, as the psychic neighbor Helga Ten Dorp, goes so far overboard aiming for cheap laughs--with her rolling eyes, agonized posturings and costumed in complete error as a florid gypsy--that Levin’s whole reason for bringing the character in is lost in the muddle. And the goofy charlatan’s outrageousness spoils the play’s final gag.

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* “Deathtrap,” Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1202 Malvern Ave., Fullerton. 8:15 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, 6:15 p.m. Friday-Saturday, with optional $12 dinner. $20.50-$22.50. Ends Aug. 30. (714) 741-9556. Running time: 2 hours,40 minutes.

David Allen Jones: Sidney Bruhl

Laura Gardner: Myra Bruhl

Doug Tompos: Clifford Anderson

Terra Shelman: Helga Ten Dorp

Ray Fulmer: Porter Milgrim

A Grove Theater Center production of Ira Levin’s comedy-thriller. Produced by Kevin Cochran & Charles Johanson. Directed by Kevin Cochran. Scenic design: Mark Klopfentstein. Lighting design: David Darwin. Costume design: Hunter Stevenson. Technical direction: Don Delaney.