Jeffrey Sweet–Making the Scene

As you may have heard, Kenrex (now playing at the Lucille Lortel) is a solo show starring and co-written by Jack Holden (who recently won a surprise Olivier Award over some big stars for his performance in London) in which he plays the people of the town of Skidmore, Missouri circa 1981, a thug named Ken Rex McElroy and the law officer trying to solve his murder. Directed by Ed Stambollouian (who co-wrote the script), Holden dashes back and forth around the stage, in and out of various skins, accompanied (mostly very loudly) by a gifted solo musician named John Patrick Elliott. The show intends to dazzle us with its virtuosity, and it does. The story is gripping and we root for Holden the way we would watching someone race through an obstacle course at high speed.

What struck me most is how familiar McElroy seems to me today. A big, arrogant guy, careless and abusive of women, with a compulsion to cheat and assault others, with a cunning lawyer handy to help him get his way through bullying, intimidation and shabby tricks. And, despite the flagrant violations of the law, the courts seem unequal to the task of stopping him.

In the play (and in real life), some of the townspeople of Skidmore decided enough was enough. They surrounded him in his truck, pulled out guns and blasted him into eternity. And, though there were witnesses aplenty, nobody stepped forward to identify who fired the shots. Forty-five years have passed, and there has been no crack in the protection the town has given to those who shot a man to death in broad daylight.

Of course, we civilized people don’t resort to or endorse violence. I, for one, will place my hopes in the midterms in November.