‘A Killing Snow’ at Vertigo turns familiar Canadian reality into death trap

Imagine being snowed in with a group of strangers, and one of them is a murderer.

That’s the chilling premise behind A Killing Snow, onstage at Vertigo Theatre through April 12, where a familiar Canadian reality becomes the ultimate trap.

A blizzard locks the characters inside, killing phone service and electricity. With nowhere to go and nothing but time, it soon becomes clear the strangers have more in common than first thought.

And then someone dies.

Playwright Paul Ciufo has seen A Killing Snow staged about half a dozen times, but the Vertigo run marks just the second professional production of the play.

“It’s really thrilling to see the new interpretation,” Ciufo said. “If you’re a control freak, write novels. If you’re a playwright, you’re giving over a blueprint to people who are going to build the building.”

Audience response is part of what keeps the play alive for him, Ciufo says he even checks in with patrons at intermission to see how confident they are in their guesses of the suspect.

“Even seeing the same production two nights back to back, the audience is different,” he said. “There are little subtle differences night to night. That’s the joy of live theatre versus something like film.”

Ciufo says the challenge of writing in the genre means building that uncertainty in from the beginning.

“If only one of them seems guilty, that’s no fun,” he said.

He calls the human mind a predictor machine, and writes to that fact.

“There’s that moment where you think, ‘Aha,’” he said. “And then something shifts, and you’re not so sure anymore.”

A Killing Snow runs through April 12 at Vertigo Theatre.

Ticket information is available at vertigotheatre.com