Deathtrap by Ira Levin

Toned gray paper and prismacolor pencils. 2022.

Deathtrap is set place in 1978 Connecticut. This play is about a playwright, Sydney Bruhl who writes thrillers, and has one more chance to succeed. It’s been 18 years since he had last written a thriller and he is even willing to kill to be at top once again. His former student, Clifford Anderson, is his last chance at succeeding. Myra Bruhl, Sydney’s wife, suggests the idea of collaborating on Clifford’s play, but we soon realize this collaboration turns out for the worst. Not even the psychic, Helga Ten Drop can predict this thriller. This theoretical design, was influenced by a previous professor, J. David Blatt, who was inspired by Hitchcock films and wanted to push the gray scale in his theoretical play. I was inspired by this idea and paired it with Deathtrap. I wanted to push the gray scale to represent the character’s sinister traits throughout the show while keeping it true to the time period. As the characters showed their sinister side throughout the play, their costume would be dark gray to black. As we see the characters represent innocence, their costume would be light gray to true white.