Ira Levin

Enter the haunted trap of ‘Veronica’s Room’

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By John Lyle Belden

Eclipse Productions* of Bloomington adds to the October chill with its production of “Veronica’s Room.”

The 1973 play is by Ira Levin, author of “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Stepford Wives,” which should alert you to the caliber of psychological thriller we are dealing with. To set that mood, the audience walks in through the stage area of the Rose Firebay Theater in the Waldron Arts Center and are seated in the titular room throughout the play. Try to ignore the phantoms.

Soon arriving are Susan (Mandy Scamacca) and Larry (Michael Allen), a young couple invited by John (Ronnie Johnstone) and Maureen (Becky Stapf), caretakers of this old house. The Girl is asked to help comfort the home’s aging resident by pretending to be her long-dead sister, Veronica. They note that Cissie, who is dying, has mentally slipped back to 1935 and needs reassurance that her sister has forgiven her for past events.

Reluctant at first, Susan agrees to take on the role, including changing into Veronica’s clothes. After The Woman briefs her on details including the younger brother Conrad and their physician, Dr. Simpson, she is left alone to prepare for the next scene.

She is not ready for what happens next.

I dare not spoil anything further, as the plot twists around shifting identities and altered reality – like a story by Phillip K. Dick in the style of Shirley Jackson. Director Kate Weber leans into this sense of fractured perspective with touches including the unspeaking hooded guides at the show’s beginning, wall cut-aways allowing us to see into the hall outside the room, and the spooky soundscape – designed by Joshua Lane – with constant low moans and creaks. Terrible past events haunt this space; as we come to understand them, note that this is for mature audiences (content includes various forms of abuse, as well as gaslighting and murder).

Performances explore the complexity of the characters’ identities while the flexible nature of stagecraft in presenting any time and place gives us little certainty. Is Susan pretending to be Veronica, or did Veronica dream up Susan? Scamacca effectively personifies the struggle. Our printed program is of no help – she is listed as “The Girl.”

Likewise, Allen is “The Young Man,” a little standoffish and hard to fathom from the start. Johnstone, “The Man,” masterfully drops clues that only add up in the end. Stapf, “The Woman,” gives a powerhouse performance that stuns with every disturbing twist.

For our Indianapolis readers, this play is well worth the drive down to Bloomington. Eclipse’s immersive approach to theatre really pays off. Remaining performances of “Veronica’s Room” are Oct. 24-26 at 122 S. Walnut St. Get info and tickets at eclipseproductionscompany.com.

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(*No relation to the “Eclipse” professional theatre program of Summer Stock Stage in Indianapolis.)  

Twisty ‘Trap’ in Bloomington

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

A young playwright has possibly written the perfect thriller – could this lead to a perfect crime?

The less you know about the 1978 play “Deathtrap” by Ira Levin, presented by Constellation Stage and Screen in Bloomington, the more vague I should stay in describing it, as it twists and turns like country road switchbacks. This is a sharply written two-act five-person one-room thriller complete with scares and laughs, about a sharply written two-act five-person one-room thriller… Yes, it does get a bit meta, but in a masterful way, fascinating as it is dizzying.

Directed by Chad Rabinovitz, who couldn’t help adding a little appropriate entertainment of his own during the curtain speech, our talented five persons are:

  • Mark Andrew Coffin as aging playwright Sidney Bruhl, who would practically kill for another Broadway hit, and keeps an awful lot of old weapons around his study.
  • Greta Lind as Sidney’s wife, Myra, who doesn’t mind supporting him with her wealth, yet is afraid of what he might do.
  • John Drea as Clifford Anderson, the aspiring writer who has sent perhaps the only copy of his first play, “Deathtrap,” to Sidney for his perusal.
  • Mary Carol Reardon as Helga ten Dorp, likely the world’s most authentic psychic – though the visions do get fuzzy at times.
  • And, Steve Scott as attorney Porter Milgrim, who comes in during the second act for necessary business, and to advance the plot with clever insights.

Coffin and Drea each give us characters who are simultaneously charming and a little suspicious, and good at dark physical comedy. Reardon relishes her work as a wacky medium, while adding suspense as the audience realizes that all her predictions come true – eventually.

In the intimate confines of the Ted Jones Playhouse, the characters can almost sense that audience witnessing them (none were harmed at our performance, and Constellation staff were standing by), adding to the spooky atmosphere provided by designer Seth Howard’s rustic/Medieval set.

For a February chill, step into “Deathtrap,” playing through Feb. 19 at 107 W. 9th St. in downtown Bloomington (formerly home of Bloomington Playwrights Project, now part of Constellation). Get info and tickets at SeeConstellation.org.