Ah, we’ve been looking forward to KENREX for some time now. It’s the new play from actor Jack Holden and musician John Patrick Elliott – the same pair who gave us the sublime play Cruise on the West End a couple of years ago. KENREX premiered last year up in Sheffield and now has a new home in London at the Southwark Playhouse, and is co-written by Holden and Ed Stambollouian (who also directs).
This play is a very different beast, although it once again features an absolute tour-de-force performance from Holden, and the live music element really elevates the on-stage action. KENREX is based on a true story: in the small town of Skidmore, Missouri, Ken Rex McIlroy is terrorising the locals. Whether he’s setting property alight or setting his dogs on the local townsfolk, his way of settling scores is through a tirade of violence. Over the course of two hours, we see the grisly events that took place during his reign of terror and how the residents tried to fight back.
KENREX blurs the boundaries of performance art – it doesn’t feel like a traditional play. It uses pre-recorded material throughout (a tape recorder is featured prominently, providing testimonial evidence at key moments), and the show unfolds in a series of chapters, with projections indicating the title of each as the play progresses. Giles Thomas’ brilliantly effective sound design makes it feel as though we’re immersed in the action, as residents’ voices and the sounds from around the town emit from all sides of the auditorium. It plays out like a televised true crime drama – one where we’re involved in the action.
Key to this show’s success, of course, is Holden’s incredible ability to embody multiple roles. A slight tweak of an accent or changed mannerism is all it takes for him to switch between the title role, the mayor, a lawyer, a landlady, a grocer, and so forth. We genuinely bought into Skidmore as a living and breathing town, populated with a whole array of credible characters featuring fully-realised back stories, even though we would only ever see one of these people at a time – it’s an incredible feat to witness.
These elements – the fantastic acting, the wonderful live music, the immersive sound design, the unique approach to using the theatre space – they all add up to deliver an absolute masterclass in theatrical storytelling. Not to be missed.
GAY TIMES gives KENREX – 5/5
More information can be found here.
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