"I am a murderer!"
The proud proclamation echoes through the auditorium as three seemingly normal people admit their crimes. The light shines on them like those in police interrogations as they stand tall center stage. No sign of guilt or sadness can be found on any of their faces or in their body language. They wish for nothing except to tell their story before it is too late.
The play was constructed of three people's stories about what makes them a murderer. This includes the backstory of how they got to be at the Riddle Key Retirement Center in Riddle, Florida. Each character stands and gives a monologue to the audience in order to portray their story.
Gerald starts off by speaking of marriage for money and blackmail, followed by murder and wrongful imprisonment. He speaks of parties and deception as well as growing love and hope, which eventually gets crushed. He talks of irony and of mercy killings done in threes.
Lucy begins a story of infidelity and deceit. She tells a tale that involves her husband cheating and what she does in order to get revenge. As she said, "I am a murderer, or I will be once the pills kick in." The set up that she caused was certainly diabolical.
Minka was the only serial killer in the group. She spoke of how she started and continued killing those she believed deserved it based on her brand of justice. Her victims were those who she thought wronged her or someone she favored. She reminded me of Hannibal Lecter in the sense that she killed based on rudeness or some other conceived slightly.
I found the production to be interesting. It was a comedy and I admit that I laughed more than I thought I would. That being said, I feel that a lot of the humor went over my head (as well as the heads of the younger generation in attendance) because the jokes seemed to be aimed at those in their older years. Things like lingo, television shows, and clothing that were mentioned and caused the older people in attendance to laugh just made me confused because I didn't understand what made it funny. I found that instances, where others were laughing, forced me to fake a laugh and that seemed to sour the experience a little bit for me. I also feel that, when compared to other shows I have seen, it was kind of underwhelming. There were no set changes, no character interactions, and there wasn't a lot of acting.
Being that the production was three monologues, in my opinion, there wasn't a lot of what is normally considered as acting. The actors definitely weren't being themselves, but they didn't seem to fully immerse themselves in their character when compared to other productions I have seen. The actors didn't move around the stage, Carolyn England stayed sitting throughout her whole time on stage. The sets stayed the same, the only thing that changed with the actors was what beverage they were drinking. I believe that June Koc chose this route because it was able to tie all of the stories together, each crime happened at the same place, each murderer struck at the same retirement home.
That being said, I missed the variety of sets usually seen during a play. Another difference is that there was no intermission, is that the play only lasted 90 minutes. I think this decision was made because if you stopped after someone's confession the audience would lose the connection they have made between the characters, the set, and the time period that the play takes place in.
Overall, I believe that the production was very successful. The play itself was different so the show had to be as well which I think June Koc took into consideration when directing the play. The representation of Jeffery Hatcher's work was very strong and will definitely be remembered.