Dangerous world of the playwright

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A THRILLING combination of youth and experience leads the way in Oldham Coliseum's season-opening thriller, "Deathtrap".

The curtain rises tomorrow night (Friday) on Ira Levin's Seventies hit, which ran for years on Broadway and spawned a hit movie.

The cast is headed by Steven Pinder - best known perhaps as Max Farnham in "Brookside", though no stranger to the Coliseum - and Andrew Cullimore, who appears at the theatre for the first time.

Steven plays former hit playwright Sidney Bruhl, once the toast of Broadway, now struggling to get anything on paper and something of a has-been.

He finds aspiring young playwright Clifford Anderson at one of his seminars - and crushingly, Clifford has written the perfect play, "Deathtrap".

Desperate to be back at the top, Sidney is prepared to do anything to get his hands on the play and claim it as his own. Even murder. But don't worry if that sounds like a spoiler: it's only a fraction of the play's devilish twists and turns, all spiked with a healthy dose of dark comedy.

Steven says of his character: "Sidney's mind is scrambled. He's got a lot of things going on in his head, not positive. He's definitely got layers."

Blackburn-born Steven returns to the Coliseum a year after his part in the theatre's production of Ayckbourn's "Absent Friends".

Like many performers, Steven is a Coliseum fan: "Every time I stand on stage here I think how many well-known actors and actresses have worked here before me," he says.

"There's always something going on here; it's a place close to my heart."

Arden School of Theatre graduate Andrew, who plays Clifford, has been knocking at the Coliseum door for some time.

The 27-year-old actor said: "I have been writing to the theatre for years, trying to get my foot in the door. Finally this is my first role on the main stage and I'm really looking forward to it - even though I've had to master an American accent.

"The production, directed by Coliseum artistic director Kevin Shaw, runs until October 1. More info at www.coliseum.org.uk, or box office (624 2829).