Deathtraps: The Postmodern Comedy Thriller

"This is an extremely intelligent, interesting, and well written book." —Murder Is Academic

"... compelling analysis of the comedy thriller... " —Theatre Studies

"... almost as much fun to read as is seeing the actual plays discussed... " —Journal of Popular Culture

The phenomenal success of such plays as Deathtrap and Sleuth heralded the advent of a new form of detective play—the comedy thriller. Carlson takes the wraps off the comedy thriller and reveals its postmodern effects. He looks at all the elements of the thriller—openings, settings, characters, plot lines, the role of the audience, and endings—and shows how they work to overturn the conventions of realism in detective drama.

"This is an extremely intelligent, interesting, and well written book." — Murder Is Academic

"... compelling analysis of the comedy thriller... " — Theatre Studies

"... almost as much fun to read as is seeing the actual plays discussed... " — Journal of Popular Culture

The phenomenal success of such plays as Deathtrap and Sleuth heralded the advent of a new form of detective play — the comedy thriller. Carlson takes the wraps off the comedy thriller and reveals its postmodern effects. He looks at all the elements of the thriller — openings, settings, characters, plot lines, the role of the audience, and endings — and shows how they work to overturn the conventions of realism in detective drama.

MARVIN CARLSON is Sidney E. Cohn Professor of Theatre and Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Among his books on European theatre history and on theatrical theory are Theories of the Theatre, Places of Performance, and Theatre Semiotics: Signs of Life.