PM&L Theatre’s 60th season was delayed two years because of the pandemic and its members are very excited to kick off the diamond anniversary season with the thriller “Deathtrap.”
Performances of “Deathtrap” are at 8 p.m. Sept. 2-3, 9-10 and 16-17 and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 4, 11 and 18 in the Dolly Spiering Memorial Auditorium at the PM&L Theatre in Antioch.
It is directed by Adam Armstrong of Round Lake Beach. He’s been with PM&L for 20 years as an actor, director and board member.
“I’m very excited about this show,” he said. “We’ve been having a very good time rehearsing it. I’ve been a fan of this play for a very long time. I’ve read the script many times over the years.”
As a veteran stage combat choreographer, he likes directing thrillers because of the opportunity to do choreograph a lot of action, he said.
“I get to do double duty directing and choreographing the violence and make sure that it’s done well and safely,” he said. “It’s a very meta show. It was written in 1978 before the term ‘meta’ even existed. It’s a show about writing a show. And that always adds an element of fun when you get to deal in those doubles.”
“Deathtrap” was written by Ira Levin and was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Play. A movie version starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve came out in 1982.
It’s a five-character, one-set thriller about writing the perfect five-character, one-set thriller, he said.
“It’s about a formerly very successful playwright, Sidney Bruhl, who has been having a bit of a dry spell and in the mail receives a finished, first script from a student who took his writing seminar that is perfect,” Armstrong said. “He considers whether it would be worth killing him to steal his script.”
There are plenty of twists and turns and shocking moments throughout, he promised.
“Deathtrap” has the distinction of being the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway, he said, and has been revived several times and frequently performed by community theaters.
The play was written in 1978 and the action takes place at the author’s house in upscale New England, he said.
“We are leaning in to the idea that the show is set in the 1970s with our sets and costumes,” he said. “We are trying to do a bit more elaborate sets this season … to go all-out celebrating our 60th season.”
Armstrong thinks it will be an extremely enjoyable evening for audiences. “It’s a very funny show with a lot of twists and turns in the plot that I think will keep people guessing if they haven’t seen it,” he said. “And if they have seen a version before, I think we’re doing some interesting takes on it.
“Which I think is a credit to the author and to our actors, being able to work in some things so that once everything comes out it all makes sense, but it’s not necessarily what you would guess going through..”
‘Deathtrap’
When: Sept. 2-18
Where: PM&L Theatre, 877 Main St., Antioch
Tickets: $12-$20
Information: 847-395-3055; pmltheatre.com
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
