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ssp at Edinburgh, The Comedians' Theatre Company
Killer Joe
- Pleasance Courtyard
- Edinburgh, 19 August 2007
Macabre drama twists all into submission
Chris Smith is in a tight spot. He owes a stack of cash and is fast running out of options. When he enlists the services of part-time hitman/police detective Joe Cooper to benefit from his mother's life insurance policy quicker, there might be a way out. But every deal has a catch in this year's Comedians' Theatre Company production of Tracy Letts's 1993 Fringe First-winning twisted comedy.
KFC, Mickey Mouse, centrefold pin-ups and blaring gameshow hosts form a littered caravan of dysfunction in Dallas, Texas. The drama unfolds in a way that Ken Loach might have envisioned the Simpsons Movie, with Edinburgh staple Phil Nichol aping around in trailer-park neanderthal mode. Tony Law is coolly convincing as a well-mannered, Stetson-wearing psychotic and the rest of the cast's performance styles are almost note-perfect, although lines were often swallowed up by the Southern drawls.
Letts's heady play rattles and jolts you like a cheaply constructed ride at a travelling fairground, swirling lights and all: I was unsure whether to vomit or giggle hysterically towards its speeding climax. Some parts are heavy-handed, particularly when country and western is juxtaposed with what's happening on-stage and there's a tension between the hard-hitting intentions of the production and the carefully realised and distanced aesthetic of the set design. But for any shortcomings it may have, Killer Joe forces success in its violent effort to cram as much into ninety minutes as you can bear to watch.
Julien Hunt
