Russell Beale & Twilight Star in Deathtrap???

After his long international run with Sam Mendes’ Bridge Project productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Cherry Orchard, Simon Russell Beale may switch from the classics to more populist fare for his next West End turn. According to today’s Daily Mail, the Olivier Award-winning thespian is signed up to star in a revamped version of Ira Levin’s comic thriller Deathtrap.

Russell Beale will play Sidney, a once-celebrated thrillers author who’s now suffering from writer’s block. While waiting for inspiration, he receives a brilliant script from one of his former writing students, Clifford. The temptation is too much. With the help of his wife Myra, Sidney plots to murder his protégé and market the young man’s sure-fire thriller as his own. But, as in any good thriller, twists and turns follow in abundance.

First opened in 1978 in New York, Deathtrap went on to become Broadway’s longest running thriller. That same year, it premiered in London at the West End’s Garrick Theatre in a production starring Dennis Quilley and Rosemary McHale. In 1982, it was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Levin’s other credits include Rosemary’s Baby, Stepford Wives and Sliver.

Director Matthew Warchus, fresh from his Tony Award-winning success with God of Carnage (Best Direction, Best Play) and The Norman Conquests (Best Play Revival), and producers David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers (with whom Warchus has worked on God of Carnage and previous long-running hit Art) are planning to update Deathtrap and add a few new twists.

All going to plan, Deathtrap will open at the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre in September 2010. And, heads up to Twilight fans, Robert Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen, is in the frame for the part of Clifford. Prepare for mob scenes.