Review: Twists and turns aplenty in Rugby Theatre's latest brave play

If you like your drama with twists and turns aplenty - and a comic dimension – then Deathtrap has to be on your hit list.

An intense version of the play within a play structure, any self-respecting review of a production always says little about the plot to avoid any spoilers – and it’s a tradition we must uphold here.

But if, as seems likely, you know little about a play that has a fine reputation but is only rarely performed, it’s got that classic thriller setting of a single set showing the inside of someone’s house - and a cast of five.

There’s an ageing playwright, his wife, the new kid on the scriptwriting block and a neighbour with extraordinary psychic gifts.

There is death aplenty but in this piece by master storyteller Ira Levin, no inspector or police officer of any rank calls – the investigative doubts are raised by the fifth character, a solicitor.

The state of play is established in the opening exchanges between the husband and wife before the deliberately bewildering plot develops.

If the interventions by Cheryl Ryan as psychic Helga ten Dorp are a wonderful source of humour – almost like she’s escaped from a panto – there’s light to be found in a witty script and some of the physicality of the action.

After a slow start it builds to something that demands your complete attention to keep hold of the threads.

Gary van Sluiters as the faded genius Sidney Bruhl grows with it. He becomes quite commanding in the role, notably his exchanges with the young pretender and apparent love interest Clifford Anderson, played with the ideal boyish appeal by Rugby Theatre newcomer Bryn Richards.

Its four-year initial run in 1978 handed Deathtrap the title of longest-running comedy thriller on Broadway – a rather limited genre that has found some new stars over this side of the Atlantic in the years since, such as the wonderful The 39 Steps.

That is a very different creation and one that readily stands repeat watchings.

In comparison, you possibly only need to see Deathtrap once to get it – and this brave choice by Rugby Theatre and in the hands of director Steve Crump, means your chance is right here, right now.