Interview conducted by Peter Davis
Photos By Kintz,

 

Deathtrap
By Ira Levin

Directed by Vincent M. Lancisi

Interviewed and playing the lead roles are Bruce Nelson and Danny Gavigan.

Missing from the interview, due to the flu, is Lewis Shaw responsible for Fight Choreography, Weapons and Special Effects. Lewis, Bruce and Danny deliver a great evening of classic theater.

The only reason to see a thriller again is when it works perfectly on a lot of levels. In Deathtrap the writing and plotting by Ira Levin are impeccable. The Everyman production is superb. The acting is terrific and the mayhem flawlessly executed.

 

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Peter
Why Deathtrap at Christmas?

Bruce
It’s not your usual Christmas Carol or Nutcracker. As Vinnie (Vincent Lancisi, Director) says during the curtain speech, “…is there a lovelier way to usher in the holidays than by killing family and friends?” Have them around the dinner table and garrote them.

Danny
Also, it’s unexpected. I feel, as an audience member looking for something to do, would I want to see It’s a Wonderful Life or Nutcracker for the tenth time, or would I see this thriller, maybe, just to mix it up?

Bruce
Maybe there’s a larger question in there about how Vinnie goes about choosing a season. How he placed the play. And, this might have been just a happy coincidence.

Peter
As an actor, is a props heavy show a blessing or a curse?

Danny
Initially it seems like a curse. But, depending on the script, it can be a blessing. In Deathtrap it’s a blessing. Ira Levin has written an airtight script. He’s very specific about each of the beats and where actors need to be stage wise. Every piece of furniture on the set is written into the script.

As specific as he is with the layout of the props and how they are to work, it’s a blessing. It allows you to have a leg up on your work. It’s the longest running Broadway thriller for a reason.

Bruce
There are three times in the show where my character has to sort of clean things up. Initially the props were a curse. Once you know what you’re doing it’s effortless.

Peter
How early in the rehearsal process did you get to work with the functioning props?

Bruce
About two weeks in we’re working with some facsimile of a prop. With a couple of pieces we didn’t get the real thing until the last minute. That’s because technically, to make these things produce blood, there’s a lot of trial and error to get it just right.

Danny
Second week in Lewis (Lewis Shaw, Fight Choreography/Weapons/Special Effects) had what he called proof-of-concept. He was building these from scratch himself. He would have early versions we could work with to see if they worked, not just for us but for him, too.

Peter
Everyone: the writer, director, other actors, audience; we’re all counting on you to get it right every time.

Bruce
And the stage manager, Amanda Hall sees what we’re not seeing. She’s weighing in, nightly.

Peter
What makes a great stage death?

Bruce
A lot of blood.

Danny
I totally agree. In addition to blood you (the audience) have to have to care about the character. Without that, it’s trivial, it falls flat.

Bruce
Yes. Getting the audience to come along with you and then take it away from them—that’s a great death. In this play we do it twice!

Peter
What is it about the thriller genre that gives us permission to laugh and enjoy murder and duplicity?

Bruce
I know they took great pains the last few days of tech to make sure that, as some bit of information is delivered, it got a little sound underscore. You love when your designers are punctuating those critical moments in order to goose the audience. It’s fun and funny because you know something’s coming, based on that sound underscore, but when is it going to come? It’s going to be a surprise.

Peter
I was charmed and delighted every time it happened.

Bruce
First time I heard it I bust out laughing. Really?

Danny
It always gets a laugh.

Bruce
Like a charm.

Danny
It’s also the meta-theatrical aspect of the fact that it’s a play about a play.

With a comedy everyone is waiting for the next laugh. If it’s strictly a thriller you’re just swinging for the next scare. If you have the best of both worlds, which Ira Levin does, they compliment each other.

You realize there’s this line between breaking the tension from fear and laughing because something is absurdly funny. I find often, when we’re in that first scene when the tension is being ratcheted up, that the audience laughs harder at the suspenseful moments than they do at built in punch lines.

Peter
Both of you are trained, polished professional actors. I’m curious if the preoccupation with complicated props ever takes you out of character when performing?

Danny
When something doesn’t go as planned it takes you out of it just enough. Your mind is all of a sudden back in left brain thinking where it’s technical. It’s the last place you want to be as an actor. When push comes to shove, and we’ve had some of these not go off well during previews in front of an audience, you just find that the better part of your sense as an actor, to stay in the moment, wins out.

Bruce
We’re far enough along in our careers that if we do break a character it’s broken in such a way that it’s still in the ball park.

Danny
And this play and the tone of this piece gives you license to go there. It’s a thriller. Are we pretending in this moment or are we being real?

Peter
What’s the actor’s job?

Danny
To take risks. Fearlessly dive into as many possibilities, to show the director, as possible. Trust your fellow actors. Listen. Trust your director. Appreciate that he or she has a vision. Your job is to respect that. Tell that story. If you show up with your own story you may find yourself in a different play. You’re not doing anybody, least of all yourself, any favors.

Bruce
That’s not to say you don’t show up with some kind of idea in mind. You just have to be willing to let it go. It has to mesh. You’re part of a collaborative process.

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Enjoy Deathtrap. It runs through January 11, 2015 at Everyman Theatre.