Theatre
Review
Review: Kenrex
The one-man Western at the Other Palace is masterfully gripping
We’re in the era of the West End blockbuster, where special effects defy belief and golden age revivals have casts of 30 or more. The aim of the game is to be larger than life, or failing that, subversively minimalistic. Somehow, Kenrex manages to be both.
At the Other Palace, a story of small-town terror is unfolding, a show that feels like simultaneously watching a Western and listening to a true crime podcast. A community is coming together to tell the tale of Ken Rex McElroy, the bully who ruled their town for many years – until he didn’t. The tapestry of Skidmore is rich, the people distinctly entertaining. Alone onstage is actor Jack Holden, responsible for each of their voices.
Between them, Holden and director Ed Stambollouian make the one-man show feel like a fresh concept. Onstage musician John Patrick Elliott brings a heightened energy to every scene, the bard to Holden’s one-man circus, scoring the action in a way that makes it all feel surprisingly cinematic. Holden, dressed in a suit and tie, introduces the show’s framing narrative – he is a prosecutor, being interviewed on the record by the disembodied voice of Annette Parker about Ken Rex and Skidmore, and it’s this device that gives him permission to inhabit each of the show’s other characters.
Any performance in a one-man show should be singularly impressive, to justify the structure, and luckily Holden’s is exactly that. With elastic voice acting skills and a liquid physicality, his various possessions feel seamless. One minute he’s flitting around the stage like a fleet-footed Mormon, looking a little like he’s just tap-danced his way down from the Prince of Wales Theatre. Then we watch, uncomfortable and awed, as he settles into the physicality of Ken, angry at the world, indiscriminate in his choice of victim. It shouldn’t be quite so stressful to watch him threaten himself, and yet in the show’s tensest moments, the atmosphere in the theatre is fraught. We are all nervous for characters who come and go before our eyes.
Plenty of theatre leads have come up against a supporting actor who runs away with the piece (not an issue for Jack Holden, who is of course his own supporting cast). It’s far rarer for a lead actor – especially one giving a performance of this calibre – to be in danger of being upstaged by the show’s sound design. Anisha Fields and Joshua Pharo (on set and costume, lighting and video design respectively) do an admirable job of creating a canvas for Holden to paint, but it’s Giles Thomas’ sound design that immerses us in Ken’s world, penning us in from all angles, trapping us in Skidmore with him. As the show winds towards its tense conclusion, it grips as tightly as any live blockbuster can. To do more with less is always impressive – to create this story with these materials feels like a loaves and fishes situation. Which is to say, it’s miraculous.
Kenrex is playing at the Other Palace until 1 Feb – find tickets here
