Index of University Press Releases

Nov. 2, 2007

DWU puts on wickedly good show
By Mari Olson - The Daily Republic

Melissa Tafoya as Myra Bruhl and Kerrie Roozen as Helga Ten Dorp in a scene from “Deathtrap.”

Five characters, four deaths, three murders and a psychic up the crazy tree.

No, I’m not talking about last year’s office Christmas party.

This past weekend, Dakota Wesleyan theater students produced and acted in “Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts,” by Ira Levin — a play with very few innocent parties.

Since watching the play Saturday night all I’ve wanted to do is write down what I loved about Kerrie Roozen, who played the nutty psychic Helga Ten Dorp to perfection.

This sophomore English major was the highlight of the entire show for me — she was deadly funny, delivered her lines perfectly and never broke character for a second. I have a feeling she’s been driving her friends nuts for weeks while impersonating her over-the-top foreign psychic character while channeling Lily Tomlin-like zaniness.

Ben Floyd, as aspiring playwright Clifford Anderson, was quite believable. He was convincing as the innocent boy from yonder, as well as the moral-deprived killer. There were a couple of surprising moments in the play, and all due to Floyd, the best being when he rose from the dead and jumped through the door with a plaster log (the audience screamed and then laughed at itself for it, which is great); another surprise twist led to his own death and that of his mentor, Sidney Bruhl (played by Al Jacklin).

This play is not without plot twists. In fact, the whole play recaps and foreshadows as it goes, and all the while its self-created irony is irony in itself — which makes more sense if you saw the play.

So let me explain. It’s a lot like Thunderdome — five crazies go in, and only one comes out.

Sidney Bruhl, played very well by veteran ACT actor Al Jacklin, is a struggling playwright of thrillers and murder. He hasn’t had an idea in months and is driving himself and his wife, Myra (Melissa Tafoya) mad. But then comes a genius script, “Deathtrap,” and he plots to kill the writer (Anderson) so he can take the credit.

The timely resurrection of Anderson leads to Myra’s heart attack and then the audience is let in on the little secret: Bruhl and Anderson are in cahoots with one another to do away with Myra so they can be together.

But that’s hardly the end. After a series of plot twists and turns and predictions by the neighboring psychic, various cast members get the ultimate cut.

The body count rises as people are in pursuit of the best play idea of all time based on the premeditated murder of a particular playwright’s wife — and Bruhl isn’t at all thrilled about the similarities in Anderson’s new play, so he decides to do him in too.

This all takes place on one set filled with at least 26 weapons and the play “Deathtrap” lives up to its name.

Some of the characters’ deliveries were a bit dry, but the more stage productions they become a part of, the easier it will get to become a character.

Tafoya was quite good at being the angered wife, and Abhishek Chan Tiwari nicely portrayed the lawyer whose ambitions eventually lead to his own demise.

The set for this play also must be mentioned, because it could have been done very cheesy, and it looked professional.

Also, something I’ve noticed with multiple plays is that lighting somehow becomes an issue at least once when needed for certain effects like lightening or dim corners. Little things like that just stick with me the whole show and drive me nuts. The fact I mention it is there were many opportunities to have serious lighting issues and there weren’t any on the night I went. Thank you Bridgett Shriver for staying on top of it.

The costumes were mostly perfect, but Myra’s seemed odd. Since her hair and makeup weren’t done up to be older, she shouldn’t have been dressing like a granny — the oversized sweater jacket just gave her something to constantly tug on and didn’t add anything.

“Deathtrap” is not the conventional play I would assume to come out of DWU — and I mean that as the highest compliment.

It’s great to see plays with depth and layered characters. I’m looking forward to seeing the department’s production of “Baby with the Bathwater” in January. If done half-way, “Baby with the Bathwater” could be a disaster, but if done right, expect brilliant dark comedy at its best.

Not to put the pressure on, or anything.