ST. PETERSBURG — After a run of “Tell Me on a Sunday,” freeFall will continue its 2025-2026 season with Ira Levin’s “Deathtrap.” The production will run Oct. 24 through Dec. 7 at freeFall Theatre, 6099 Central Ave., St. Petersburg.
Eric Davis and Natalie Symons will star in “Deathtrap,” considered Broadway’s most successful comedy thriller.
Comfortably ensconced in his charming Connecticut home, Sidney Bruhl, a successful writer of Broadway thrillers, is struggling to overcome a dry spell which has resulted in a string of failures and a shortage of funds. A possible break in his fortunes occurs when he receives a script from a student in the seminar he has been conducting at a nearby college — a thriller that Sidney recognizes immediately as a potential Broadway smash. Sidney’s plan, devised with his wife’s help, is to offer collaboration to the student for co-credit. Or is it? “Deathtrap” provides twists and turns of devilish cleverness and offers hilariously sudden shocks in such abundance that audiences will be spellbound until the very last moment.
This production of “Deathtrap” will feature Davis, freeFall’s artistic director, as Sidney; Symons, an acclaimed playwright, as Sidney’s wife Myra; and Robert Teasdale as Clifford Anderson. The rest of the cast features John Lombardi as Porter Milgrim and Sara DelBeato as Helga Ten Dorp.
“Deathtrap” is a 1978 Broadway play by Ira Levin that masterfully blends suspense, black comedy, and numerous plot twists. A runaway commercial success, it became the longest-running thriller in Broadway history and was adapted into a 1982 film starring Michael Caine. The narrative revolves around a “play within a play” device, keeping the audience consistently off-balance and guessing about what is real and what is staged. The Broadway production featured a variety of stars in the role of Sidney Bruhl including John Wood, John Cullum, Farley Granger, Robert Reed and Stacy Keach. A successful West End production in 2010 starred Simon Russell Beale as Sidney, Estelle Parsons as Helga Ten Dorp and Jonathan Groff as Clifford Anderson.
Subscriptions and single tickets are now on sale and can be purchased online at freefalltheatre.com or by calling 727-498-5205. All matinees at freeFall are at 2 p.m. and all evening performances are at 7 p.m. Tickets are $55 or included with a subscription for $29 a month.