Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008
Some theater experiences are more memorable than others and I am certain that the memory of The Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s ‘‘Killer Joe” will remain with audiences for a long time.
We are accustomed to watching violence, hearing language and seeing the naked human form on our televisions and movie screens from an impersonal distance. The raw and certain reality of seeing it mere feet from your own person and live on stage packs quite a punch.
Each member of the company is expertly cast to play their role. Desperate Chris, the son, is played by Matt Baughman, able to convey moral bankruptcy well while contriving a plot to have his mother murdered for her insurance money. He has sunk so low in life that he must consider sacrificing another to save his own.
Producing artistic director Tad Janes portrays Ansel, a weak fool easily manipulated by greed who, without a moment’s pause, agrees to hire a murderer. Janes infuses Ansel with low manners and course talk, while a few one-liners add a lighter touch to this dark comedy.
Denny Grizzle’s Killer Joe Cooper is capable of violence, but the audience was also shocked by the depth of his performance. All around I heard gasps and saw people shrinking back in their seats. His intelligence, ego and manipulative skills are pure evil.
Another theatergoer with me knew Denny as a former student and was shocked by how different his stage persona was from his real personality. (I think they call it acting.)
Waif-like Julie Herber looks like Jamie Lee Curtis in her head shot in the program, but gives us a caricature of every badly bleached blonde, bone tired diner waitress in Sharla, Ansel’s second wife. (Remember Flo from Mel’s Diner? She could have been the Queen of England next to Sharla.)
Sharla is the recipient of much of the violence that the Maryland Ensemble staff has warned us about. My cohorts and I were amazed by how much the actress has to endure physically in this role.
Perhaps the most difficult character to play is sweet, simple Dottie — done brilliantly by Amy Easton. Dottie is the young daughter who is sacrificed by her father and brother to satisfy the lust of Killer Joe.
It is clear that all is not right in Dottie’s head and that she has been manipulated by her loathsome family her entire life. Easton plays her character by removing any signs of animation from her features and even dims the light in her eyes. When the end of the drama arrives, we were most shocked by Dottie’s out of character response to the crisis around her.
Kudos to the cast, but also to director Gené Fouché and the crew for expert staging.
I had friends seated at several vantage points throughout the theater and each of us were looking to see how some of the most shocking stunts were done.
The staging was also enhanced by a killer set. The thrift store reject furniture from the ’70s sets the tone of poverty and desperation that pervades this piece.
It takes a bit of bravado to sit through this play and you may often find yourself squirming and recoiling at the violence.
My only other experience with this type of theater was in the early ’80s when an unknown Kathleen Turner played in ‘‘The Toyer” at the Kennedy Center.
Both will long stay with me.
‘Killer Joe’
For adult audiences: Violence, language, nudity
When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through March 8; 8 p.m. Feb. 28, March 6; 2 p.m. Feb. 24 and March 2
Where: Maryland Ensemble Theatre, 31 W. Patrick St., Frederick
Tickets: $22 for adults, $19 for students and seniors
For information:
301-694-4744
www.marylandensemble.org
