Deathtrap by Ira Levin

First published: 1979

Subjects: Arts, crime, and sexual issues

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Thriller

Time of work: The present

Recommended Ages: 15-18

Locale: Sidney Bruhl’s study in Westport, Connecticut

Principal Characters:

• Sidney Bruhl, a middle-aged playwright who has not had a commercial hit in eighteen years
• Myra Bruhl, Sidney’s wife
• Clifford Anderson, an attractive writing student in his mid-twenties who has written a highly commercial thriller
• Helga ten Dorp, an eccentric Dutch psychic
• Porter Milgrim, Sidney’s attorney

Form and Content

Deathtrap’s importance stems from its success as an example of the playwright’s craft of plot construction and gamesmanship. Ira Levin has succeeded in the challenge to create a new variation in a genre where all possible variations seemed to have been discovered and to discuss within the context of the play exactly what those elements are.

Act 1 begins with playwright Sidney Bruhl devastated. He is reading the manuscript for Deathtrap, the most commercial thriller that he has read in over a decade, and it is not his play. His wife, Myra, who has been supporting him since his last success almost twenty years ago, suggests that he collaborate with the student writer, polishing Deathtrap for a Broadway production. Sidney unnerves Myra by plotting to invite the student to their house, kill him, and steal Deathtrap for himself. When Myra reminds Sidney that the famous crime-solving psychic Helga ten Dorp is vacationing nearby, he dismisses this threat as an example of his ability to recognize the dramatic possibilities for murder.

Clifford Anderson arrives in scene 2, anxious to review his manuscript with “The Master.” Clifford admires Sidney’s collection of exotic weapons while Sidney asks leading questions, suggesting that he is trying to arrange a murder. Just as Myra believes that Clifford is safe, Sidney attacks, garrotting him to death. Myra looks on, horrified, while Sidney wraps the body in a rug and babbles on about how wonderful it will be to have another hit play.

As scene 3 begins, Sidney has just returned from burying the body when psychic Helga ten Dorp rushes in, warning them of the pain that she feels emanating from the house. She rushes around receiving psychic impressions, uncannily revealing some information but completely misinterpreting important details. When she leaves, Sidney delights that she was so inaccurate about the events of the actual murder. Feeling confident, he is turning off the lights when he is suddenly grabbed through the curtain by Clifford. The mud-covered student brutally attacks Sidney exactly as Helga had predicted. Suddenly, Myra clutches her chest and collapses. When Clifford determines that she is dead, he exclaims to Sidney that everything went exactly as planned: The second “staged murder” by lovers Sidney and Clifford has shocked Myra, the intended victim, to death. Act 1 ends as the two exult in the dramatic craft of their murder.

Two weeks have passed as act 2 begins, revealing Clifford working at a furious pace while Sidney sits, still unable to write. Sidney’s attorney, Porter Milgrim, cautions Sidney not to trust Clifford because he noticed Clifford discretely locking away his manuscript. Later, Sidney sneaks into the drawer to see Clifford’s manuscript and is aghast to discover that he is writing Deathtrap, describing exactly how they killed Myra. Clifford convinces Sidney that the murder was so clever that they can get away with it, and Sidney agrees to plot the action for act 2.

Scene 2 reveals Helga again confiding to Sidney about terrible psychic vibrations surrounding Clifford. When she leaves, Sidney summons Clifford, telling him that he is ready to demonstrate how act 2 will progress. Sidney cannot endure the possibility of public revelation of a male lover and has determined to kill Clifford and burn Deathtrap. In the confrontation, Sidney first seems to have the advantage, but then there is a reversal. Sidney finally grabs a crossbow and shoots Clifford. The struggle finally seems to be over, but, as Sidney telephones the police, Clifford raises up behind him, wrenches the crossbow bolt from his chest, and plunges it into Sidney. They both collapse, dead.

Scene 3 reveals Helga and Porter moving through the room as Helga describes exactly what happened. When she discerns the name Deathtrap, they both realize that this is the perfect construction for a commercial thriller. The play ends as they fight over who will make a killing in the theater with Deathtrap.

Critical Context

The murder mystery or thriller proved to be a staple of the English-language theater throughout the twentieth century: The two most-often-produced plays for more than forty years were J. B. Priestley’s thrillers Dangerous Corner (1932) and An Inspector Calls (1946), The longest running play was Christie’s The Mousetrap (1952). The elements of the successful thriller—clever plotting, engaging characters, and a unique twist—have sustained their appeal with teenagers. In these, the audience competes with a clever detective in deciphering clues presented in a manner of fair play. Shaffer’s Sleuth, however, changed the rules. It used the traditional elements of the thriller but simultaneously undermined them, breaking the rules of logic and forcing the audience to question what is “real” and what is “staged.” Deathtrap joined Sleuth in establishing this new subgenre, called the comedy thriller, in which the playwright “double-codes” the events on stage in an attempt to subvert the standard conventions of the thriller and add a new facet—keeping the audience off-balance. Deathtrap is often taught because, as a part of manipulating the rules, it so clearly defines and explains the rules of creating thrillers. Many comedy thrillers have attempted to duplicate its success, including Nick Hall’s Dead Wrong (1985), Gerald Moon’s Corpse! (1985), John Pielmeier’s Sleight of Hand (1987), and Rupert Holmes’s Accomplice (1990).