KENREX: A True Crime Thriller
Written by Jack Holden & Ed Stambollouian
Composed by John Patrick Elliott
Performed by Mr. Holden & Mr. Ellott
Directed by Mr. Stambollouian
Lucille Lortel Theatre
A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company
Reviewed by David Spencer
For those who may be starved for a genuine tour de force fix, the like of which hasn’t been in NYC since Sarah Snook took on Dorian Gray, look no further than the much-lauded Kenrex, currently at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
Despite being a British import, it tells the true crime story of a hulking criminal, who terrorizes the small Missouri town of which he is a native…and of the consequences when the justice system continually fails to contain him.
Star and co-author Jack Holden, plays two dozen characters, with virtuoso changes in voice and physical profile to distinguish them, ranging from the hub character prosecuting attorney, trying to make sense of it all, to the flamboyant defense attorney opposing him, to the criminal’s teenage bride…to the truly unsettling Ken Rex McElroy himself, whose size and brutality are conjured by the lowering of the right shoulder, a slight curve of the upper spine as if to hover over prey, a dangling left arm and a voice that is always a husk and almost always a whispering growl.
He and director co-author Ed Stambollouian—in collaboration with composer-performer John Patrick Elliott (off to the side in an open studio, providing underscoring and mood) and a crackerjack design team (scenic and costume: Anisha Fields, lighting and video: Joshua Pharo, sound: Giles Thomas)—deal it out slowly, though. Visually, the beginning is almost static: a reel-to-reel tape recorder—that suddenly snaps on, the reels turning as a voice-over deposition begins; the suddenness is the tell that our universe is unstable, and will become more so. Similarly, though Holden is at first “only” a gifted solo actor quick-switching between a few premise-establishing characters, as the tempo increases, he becomes, literally, an integrated one man ensemble. And similarly again: though there is a built set, of sorts, one could argue that its minimalism exists within a traditional back box; but one that happens to be festooned with sound equipment, steps leading to a raised platform, a movable doorframe whose outline can be backlit in the dark, and a large safety ladder on wheels. These are used to create different locales, interior an exterior, and as the tension mounts things start to move faster and faster.
I knew very little about the show before I attended, and knew nothing of Jack Holden, but there’s no question that he’ll become a power player before long. He’s one of those multi-hyphenate creator-performers who bucks the system by creating his own way of bursting upon the scene with all his ammunition loaded and ready to unleash. But Kenrex is more than a vehicle. Like Orson Wells’ Citizen Kane (yes, I know, but it’s the iconic, universally understood example), it’s possessed of an awfully good script too. And like Lin Manuel-Miranda’s musicals, Kenrex can (and likely will) have a continuing life without him in it.
But you’ll want to be able to say you were there when he was…