The Quick and the Deadly Dull
The Deadly Game at Tempe Little Theatre
*1/2 (out of *****)
Mark S.P. Turvin
(w) 965-1021  (h) 894-5443
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@asu.edu

	There are so many things that can drag a production down: 
poor direction, poor acting, or a poor script. Any one problem by 
itself can be boosted back up by help from the other two. Terrible 
things happen with a combination of any of them, or worse still, 
all three. Despite one or two valiant attempts on each of the 
above parts, Tempe Little Theatre and director Gerald Thomson find 
themselves with a deadly mixture that begins with a plodding and 
predictable script, adds in stunted and hesitant performances, and 
blends it all together with lackadaisical and uninspired 
direction. 
	The Deadly Game, a 1961 script by James Yaffe based on the 
novel Trapp by famed Swiss satirical nihilist Friedrich 
Duerrenmatt (curiously unbilled in the TLT program) involves the 
unplanned visit of Howard Trapp, a traveling salesman from New 
York to the plush Swiss Alps home of a local judge, Emile Carpeau. 
The judge and his friends, including the local public defense 
attorney and the local prosecutor, have gathered together for an 
evening of their favorite parlor game, and welcome the base and 
simple Trapp to join them. Their game consists of placing a person 
on trial for crimes against society, real and imagined, and 
battling until the Judge decides the outcome. Ironically, Trapp 
falls into a trap, and finds that he's defending himself against a 
charge of murder in the first degree, a capital offense in 
Carpeau's court. 
	Before blame is generously dished out, there are a few things 
that keep this evening of mystery from slipping off of one of the 
Swiss Alps outside of Mr. Carpeau's box set home. While plodding 
and at times unbearable, the script does have a few funny lines 
and some philosophical statements that are not what you'd expect 
from a community theatre production. As the trapped Howard Trapp, 
Keith Wick is very solid in his role, making choices in an evening 
where choices were at a minimum. Acceptable performances are also 
given by Barry Sigwart as the defense attorney, Doc Huston as a 
friend of the court, and John Gomes in his silent role of the 
hulking Pierre, the makeshift bailiff. Congratulations are 
definitely in order for Johanne Becket's impressive-on-a-
shoestring set design and Bob King's lighting, which were simple 
but effective. 
	From there, backpatting turns to finger pointing. The script 
is the biggest problem of the evening, rushing inevitably toward 
its obvious, unsurprising ending with plenty of long, drawn out 
speeches in the interim. Despite its wordiness, the actors seem to 
have been directed to deliver the bulk of their lines at a 
breakneck pace. The show might have been more enjoyable if one 
hadn't been dragged behind it like a dog leashed to a bumper. 
	As Mr. Carpeau, Robert Harrison delivered his lines choppily, 
and the speed with which he spoke seemed to be an attempt to catch 
up with his memory, a race he occasionally lost. As the predatory 
prosecutor, Gustave Kummer, Roger Schroeder acted more with his 
hands and eyebrows than with his body. In their tiny, two-
dimensional roles, Alison Doud's maid was stiff and unemotional, 
and Suzanne Evan's Helen Trapp, Howard's wife, was simple and 
unimpressive. 
	Ultimately, Mr. Thomson's pacing and blocking seems to have 
hindered the show more than helped. With more modulated delivery 
of the lines, and less mechanical blocking that actually left five 
actors sitting at a dinner table for more than ten minutes of the 
first act, the show might not have felt as rushed yet plodding as 
it wound up. The only real action in the script takes place near 
the end of the second act, and by that point, the audience has 
either drifted off or grown comatose. Granted, the script offers 
little chance for big action, but Mr. Thomson could have done 
something more than get his actors to speed through the hour long 
first act in forty-five minutes.
	Tempe Little Theatre should not be judged by the same set of 
standards given to an Arizona Theatre Company or a Theatre League, 
but despite the leniency that can be afforded to this group and 
its amateur status, The Deadly Game offers little to recommend 
itself to prospective audience members.

Production Details:
The Deadly Game by James Yaffe, based on the novel by Friedrich 
Duerrenmatt
Tempe Performing Arts Center, Tempe
350-8388
Through June 16th, 1996

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