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Killers
By John Olive
Directed by Robert Breuler
Produced by Mary Arrchie Theatre
At Angel Island
735 W. Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60613
Call 773-871-0442, tickets $18 - $20 - $22
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 3 PM
Running time 90 minutes with no intermission
Through April 9, 2006
Killers a grungy, creepy noir classic
Mary Arrchie Theatre Co, now in its 20th Season, presents a dark dramatic noir classic featuring five desperate, insane characters each struggling with their own demons. With a realistic dingy two room set complete with old 1950’s kitchen, a squeaky bed, overhead fan and blinds on the windows in the bedroom complete with a small table with a portable typewriter (set design by Grant Sabin), Killers unfolds as a look back into the nasty world of those pulp novels of the 1950’s.
This is a terrific production featuring five strong, fearless actors who dive into their characters with abandon. First produced at Steppenwolf Theatre 20 years ago with present director Robert Breuler in the lead, Killers is a crime novel or ‘B’ black & white film come to life. Even Nick Matonich’s stark lighting design suggests old movie.
In a rundown boarding house in an American city in the 1950’s, we hear someone slavishly typing non-stop in one room and a man, Earl (Joseph E. Hudson) sitting at the kitchen table moaning and covering his ears at the loud sounds of the typewriter. He snips on a whiskey bottle in his frustration. When a teen age boy, Lou (Hans Fleischmann), wonders out of the boarding house in wearing only white briefs, you realize that this place is inhabited by crazies.
Lou desperately wants to talk to Charles Blackwell (Richard Cotovsky), the trash novelist but Blackwell is struggling with writer’s block as he attempts to finish his latest work. Lou wants to get him to help organize a mugging so he can get enough money to pay his rent. The landlady, Wanda (K.K. Dodds) threatens Lou with eviction by the end of the week.
When Wanda’s husband (Karl Potthoff) returns after years in the pen, Wanda realizes that she hates him and that she is ‘all dried up.’ She now loves the sound of the typewriter as it hums “kill, kill, kill, kill him” in her mind. She tries to seduce Blackwell into killing her husband one night after her husband falls asleep. Director Breuler smoothly increases the dramatic tension in each scene toward the foreshadowed violence. Our everyman hero, Blackwell, played with understated, eerie authority by the terrific character actor Richard Cotovsky, is a mystery man focused on his novel.
He goes to a strip bar with Husband after being challenged face-to-face by Husband. Karl Potthoff is excellent as the intimidating cruel ex-con. Without giving away the storyline, let me say that Killers is truly an actor’s play long on character development where nuance, non-verbal looks posture and gestures say much while it’s short on plot. Killers is one of those shows that showcases outstanding acting talent. These five performers exemplify the depth of the Chicago acting pool.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed March 11, 2006
Jeff Recommended
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