What would you do to have a killer thriller?

That’s the question posed – and answered – by “Deathtrap,” the latest show at Saugatuck’s Mason Street Warehouse.

As Saugatuck’s Venetian Festival was getting underway Friday night and revelers were rocking under a bayside tent, across the street at Saugatuck Center for the Arts it was a dark and stormy night, and the stage was strewn with more bodies than a Shakespearean tragedy.

Ira Levin’s 1978 comedic thriller is sometimes scary, sometimes silly and sometimes a little sluggish. But it’s got more twists and turns than Hawaii’s fabled road to Hana.

The action takes place in the carriage house office of has-been thriller playwright Sidney Bruhl (John Plumpis). The office is decorated with Bruhl’s collection of medieval weapons and stage props from his murder mysteries. Director Kathryn Markey and lighting designer Jennifer Kules wisely use spotlighted vignettes of the weapons for an Alfred Hitchcock horror effect between scenes.

As the play opens, Bruhl has received a play from his student, Clifford Anderson (Alston Brown). Bruhl tells his wife, Myra (Beth Glover), that the kid’s script has the makings of a hit and jokes that he should kill the student and produce the play as his own. Bruhl invites the student to his home to discuss the script, and Myra becomes concerned that Sidney may actually kill the young man.

But, of course, nothing is ever what it seems in such tales. Just when you think you know who killed who, you find out you’re wrong, and then the alliances you’ve come to believe in prove faulty as well.

In this case, I will tell you that the first murder was so realistic, so well-staged and violent that I was seriously concerned the actor might be choking to death. His face turned flaming red. The second murder was also realistic and caused many in the audience to gasp. The third death, however, didn’t seem realistic at all. It was almost like one of those cartoon deaths where the actor staggers around looking for a comfortable place to collapse. And, no, that’s not all. There are more murder scenes before the show is over.

The Bruhl’s psychic neighbor, Helga (Mary Robin Roth), provides most of the comic relief with her exaggerated predictions. Attorney Porter Milgrim (J.R. Stuart) completes the cast.

As a one-set drama, the play has the inevitable talky scenes with little action. But the play also has some great scenes with small moves and facial gestures that reveal the relationships and personalities without any words at all. In one of the best scenes, Bruhl and Anderson sit at the desk. Anderson is typing away on a new script, obviously delighted with his writing. Bruhl is unable to think of a word to type and becomes increasingly irritated and jealous. The scene moves well without any dialogue for several minutes.

The stormy night lighting effects at the end of the play were not as realistic as I have seen in other productions. It was if they were intentionally symbolic. It seemed to fit a show in which you never know what to believe.