Deathtrap - Estelle Parsons replaces Massey
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ACADEMY Award-winning actress Estelle Parsons has replaced Anna Massey as Helga Ten Dorpe in Matthew Warchus’ revamped version of Deathtrap, which opens at the Noel Coward Theatre on September 7, 2010 (previews from August 21).
An American theatre, film and television actress, and occasional theatre director, Parsons received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Blanche Barrow in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Her recent television credits include Roseanne and Frasier.
Massey has withdrawn from the production for private reasons.
Deathtrap also stars Claire Skinner, whose theatre credits include Mrs Affleck, A Winter’s Tale, Othello and Invisible Friends (National Theatre); The Glass Menagerie, for which she received the London Critics’ Circle Best Actress Award (Donmar Warehouse); and The Importance of Being Earnest (West End).
Previously Posted: Simon Russell Beale will star alongside Anna Massey and Jonathan Groff in Matthew Warchus’ revamped version of Deathtrap, which opens at the Noel Coward Theatre on September 7, 2010 (previews from August 21).
Ira Levin’s 1978 comic thriller finds author Sidney (Russell Beale) suffering from writer’s block. While waiting for inspiration, he receives a brilliant script from former student Clifford (Groff).
Overcome by temptation and with the help of his wife, Sidney plans to murder his young protege and claim the work at his own. But, as in the thrillers he writers, his efforts are thwarted by numerous twists and turns.
Simon Russell Beale‘s extensive theatre work includes Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, The Alchemist, The Life of Galileo, Hamlet and currently London Assurance (National Theatre); The Winter’s Tale and The Cherry Orchard (New York and Old Vic); Monty Python’s Spamalot (West End and New York); and The Philanthropist (Donmar Warehouse).
Although Anna Massey has made occasional film and stage appearances, she has worked more frequently in television – in dramas such as The Pallisers, Rebecca, The Mayor of Casterbridge, The Cherry Orchard, Anna Karenina and Hotel du Lac, for which she received the 1986 British Academy TV Award for Best Actress.
In Deathtrap she plays Helga Ten Dorpe, Sidney’s nosey psychic neighbour.
American actor Jonathan Groff, who starred in the original Broadway production of Spring Awakening (as Melchior Gabor), has also appeared on the New York stage in Hair, The Bacchae and Prayer For My Enemy. He will soon be seen in the hit musical television show Glee.
Deathtrap premiered in New York in 1978 and went on to become Broadway’s longest running thriller. That same year, it opened in London (at the Garrick Theatre) where it starred Dennis Quilley and Rosemary McHale. And in 1982, it was adapted for the big screen with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve as Sidney and Clifford.
Ira Levin’s other work includes Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil and Sliver.
Enron continues at the Noel Coward Theatre until August 14, 2010.