Deathtrap

Play

Writers: Ira Levin

Overview

Show Information

Book
Category
Play
Number of Acts
2
First Produced
1978
Genres
Comedy, Dark Comedy
Settings
Contemporary, Unit/Single Set
Time & Place
Sidney Bruhl's study in Westport, Connecticut
Cast Size
small
Ideal for
College/University, Community Theatre, High School, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Small Cast, Star Vehicle Female, Star Vehicle Male
Casting Notes
Mostly male cast
Includes adult characters

Synopsis

In Ira Levin’s classic comedic thriller, Deathtrap, a washed-up playwright finds a chance to rise to the top once more, a shot he’d be willing to kill for. Sidney Bruhl hasn’t written a hit play for 18 years when he receives a script from a former student, Clifford Anderson, that’s a guaranteed success. His wife, Myra, suggests the two men could collaborate; Sidney jokes that it’d be just as easy to murder the young man and steal the script for his own. When Clifford arrives later that evening, no one--not even the visiting psychic--could predict where the dark events of the night will go. Who is innocent? Who only seems that way? Deathtrap is a sharply funny play full of twists and turns that keep an audience on the edge of their seats. Is anyone really safe when a man sees a clean shot at success?

Lead Characters


Deathtrap guide sections