A PLAY within a play, double cross, deceit and more twists than a Chubby Checker retrospective, Deathtrap was subtitled a classic thriller and the description didn't disappoint.
To set the scene, a washed up playwright hasn't had a hit since his one classic play more years ago than he wishes to remember.
But then, through the post arrives the manuscript of a brilliant thriller called Deathtrap written by an aspiring playwright seeking guidance from the old master.
What should the struggling old-timer do? Offer assistance, turn the young gun away and hope that the inspiration that has deserted him for so long makes a miraculous reappearance or perhaps something far more sinister?
The result is spellbinding, comic, surprising and completely entertaining.
And much of the credit for this belongs squarely on the shoulders of David Soul's utterly convincing and dominating portrayal of Sidney Bruhl, the struggling, has-been playwright.
Still best known as one half of the '70s cop duo Starsky And Hutch, Soul's more recent preference for British-based stagework serves him well as he wears the world-weary guise of Bruhl with an apparent compassion and glint of recognition.
Alongside Bruhl, Gerald Kyd's athletic, enthusiastic script writer wunderkind is played with just the right level of self-loving, full of beans confidence so as to make him the audience's favourite target for a grizzly demise.
Completing the trio of central characters, unfortunately Susan Penhaligon is the least comfortable of the three to watch, failing to add to the subtleness that Soul is able to bring to his character when required and preferring instead to rely on exaggerated mannerisms and less convincing characterisation.
Throughout, the pace of the action is unstoppable, with the audience unable to help but take to the murderous plottings of the self-serving Bruhl.
While all the action takes place in Bruhl's studio, filmed snippets between the scene are introduced to create a certain degree of continuity as the plot unfolds.
Whether these are quite necessary or not is debatable.
While the final twist for the two main characters might perhaps be one surprise too much, a final comic conclusion with the re-introduction of the play's other less central two characters at least sent the audience home with a well-earned grin on their faces.
All in all, however, Deathtrap is a success and worthy of the continuing applause first granted to a production that debuted back in 1978.s
From the Bath Evening Chronicle - www.thisisbath.com
