Murderers

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

Jeffrey Hatcher introduces the Vintage Theatre’s audience to three murderers: Gerald Halverson, Lucy Stickler, and Minka Lapino. The only element these three have in common is that two live, and one works at a retirement community in Riddle Key, Florida. They don’t know each other; they never relate to each other. Hatcher tears down the fourth wall. In triptych style, the three characters snuggle up to the audience for a warm close-friend confession because they have a great story to tell designed only for a close friend’s ears. In spite of it all, they wear a sense of pride and they just have to tell someone.

Vintage Production of Murderers.

Director Bernie Cardell enticed Mari Geasair to return from Seattle to design the gorgeous set for the Vintage Theatre stage, and to climb into the gloating role of Minka in Match Wits with Minka Lapino, and design the perfected costumes.

Robert Kramer locks himself tightly in the personality of Gerald for The Man Who Married His Mother-In-Law.

Betsy Grisard plays at Lucy in Margaret Faydle Comes To Town.

Death is a frequent visitor at retirement homes, but something strange has been going on at Riddle Kay. People have been entertaining death before their natural appointed time. Bright spots single out the three as each one announces to the audience, “I am a murderer.”

Although there are only three actors, the audience is introduced to several personalities brought to life with some incredible impersonations.

Dressed in a tux, Kramer reels in the audience to become acquainted with Gerald. His eyes light up the stage through a myriad of mastermind expressions as the audience meets his wife, his mother-in-law, family friends, and scores of acquaintances. With Hatcher’s brilliant writing, and Kramer’s innate ability to blow life into words, you can actually see the people Gerald refers to. Kramer is wondrously entertaining and engaging while wafts of empathy and sympathy bathe the character.

Known for his realistic character descriptions, Hatcher knows how to make his characters talk in real life terms with thoughts outrunning the mouth. Words get twisted. Thoughts go in one direction while verbiage goes in another creating a clash of verbalization. Hatcher is brilliant at this technique. There is a difference between the playwright’s word clash and the actor’s. On the night I was at the Vintage, Kramer had both to contend with, offering a couple of explanations. The most vital zeroes in on his dedication to his art. He has just recently been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, and will undergo surgery when the run for Murderers closes. He needs to know the entire theatre community and then some will hold him close with warm, strong thoughts. Gerald beams through his eyes and expressions creating stout laughter and genteel smiles.

It was necessary to state Grisard played at Lucy. Maybe it was an off night, but Lucy never really came alive. She wandered the stage as though she didn’t now where she was going or why. Her story of a frustrated elderly house wife discovering that Margaret Fayette moved back into the retirement center, a black widow spider with a penchant for hats and woo-fully enticing the husband’s of several wives’ husbands, including Bob, her own, is the weakest of the three scenarios. Grisard points in Lucy’s direction, but never fully engulfs her. I had a very difficult time concentrating on the story, caring more about the fascination of Margaret, and thinking this supposed trollop was far more interesting than Lucy, who also stumbled over several lines. It seemed little wonder at this performance, that Bob tended to slide toward Margaret more and more. Maybe it was just one of those bad nights actors periodically slip into, but found myself zoning out several times, not thinking twice about missing anything. In the last five minutes, Grisard found her footing bringing Lucy to life. Would she could have accomplished that at the very beginning, I might have been able to throw some sense of empathy Lucy’s way instead of toward Margaret.

Vintage production of Murderers

Geasair threw herself into Minka with the enthusiasm of a small child getting her very first pony ride. Minka loved mystery stories since high school, feasting on the many books by J. G. Garland. With eyes laughing and dancing, she begins with “I am a murderer several times over, and I’m not ashamed of being a murderer.” With gleeful emphasized expressions, Minka makes it clear murder isn’t evil or even bad. For her it’s a strong form of justice. Minka doesn’t live at the retirement center she works in the Members Office. Here she has access to the kind of information feeding her hunger for justice with a grand amount of “deliciousity”. One is left with the delightful thinking she has a point. Even J. G. Garland thinks so. In a quirky snap of the story, he tells her, “If anyone ever murdered me, I’d like it to be you.”

It takes an exceptionally strong actor to pull off a monologue without any one else with which to interact. In some ways Murderers could have a tinge more power if somewhere along the line the three met even without inviting the others into their inner sanctum, maybe through Murder Anonymous.

Kim Caldwell provided credibility to the lighting design as it laughed and giggled its way through the stories and the humorous characters who filled the stage embodied in the three actors.

In spite of some idiosyncrasies, energy should pick up. After all, it’s a Jeffrey Hatcher play, sporting three grand actors with laughability boomeranging throughout the theatre, under the comedic direction of Cardell.

Murderers
Regional Premier
Written by Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Bernie Cardell