Justly acclaimed at Sheffield Theatres and Southwark Playhouse, Jack Holden’s true crime, high-octane, sort-of solo show gets fresh and welcome exposure at The Other Palace. I say “sort-of” because the script is a collaboration with director Ed Stambollouian and the performance with musician John Patrick Elliott: but mostly it’s just Holden, centre stage, riffling through a dizzying array of characters as he tells the story of how Ken Rex McElroy, a one-man crimewave, met his death in Skidmore, Missouri, in 1981. It’s a thrilling, dynamic, bravura piece of work, and quite sui generis in my experience.
The villain known as Kenrex was indicted 21 times for felonies including assault, rustling, burglary and arson. At the time of his death he stood accused of attempted murder for shooting septuagenarian grocery store owner Bo Bowenkamp in the neck with a shotgun. Thus far, he’d escaped conviction by intimidating the tiny (circa 250) population of Skidmore, lurking outside the houses of witnesses and victims, firing weapons into the air, helped by the slippery machinations of lawyer Richard McFadden.
