Review: MURDERERS Presented at the Tampa Fringe Festival

Intense.  That’s the word that comes to mind after watching MURDERERS at the Tampa Fringe.  Or harrowing. Thrilling. Unpredictable. Odd. Uncomfortable. Edge-of-your-seat. Nightmare-inducing. MURDERERS, by the folks from Miami’s Dreki Theatre, is all of this and more.

Based on the real-life events of three notorious murders, whittled down to two for dramatic purposes, MURDERERS is not an easy play.  It’s all over the place, yet the intensity never dies. 

As the audience enters, we see a woman in prisoner orange, Esther (played to a never-stopping fevered pitch by Dairin Valdez), handcuffed and chained to a wall, her back to us, holding on to a table while sitting crisscross applesauce. It’s like something out of a Saw movie.  And then the play begins, and we are pushed into a darkened rabbit hole with only horrifying places to venture. 

Alex seems confused, lost.  As are the audience members early on.  “If no one sees me, do I even exist?” she asks herself.  She poses for the police cameras aimed at her: “Do I look hot?” she wonders.  She grapples her chains, almost embracing them.  There is no relief. 

Another prisoner, Alex (played to the sweaty hilt by Christian Ocon), enters.  Maybe, we wonder, this is a CSU version of No Exit.  He’s manic, quiet and then shouting; his eyes looking like they are ready to pop from their sockets. At one point his sweat splats the back walls like blood. 

But then a third character, the mysterious Detective (Renato Campilongo), brings everything back In Focus, then out of focus, then back In Focus. “I don’t have the right,” he states at one point, “but I have the power.” The power for what?  “One always looks for the same family they lost as a child,” he says in another instance.  Is he a psychiatrist, or something a bit more nefarious?   Is he even a real detective, or is he some sort of Angel of Death?

Soon enough, things become clearer, and the Detective will do anything to pry a confession out of either or both of the prisoners.  They are all so different—Esther’s intensity; Alex’s frantic anger; the Detective’s almost savior faire attitude to them both and the horrors that they may or may not have committed—as we re-enact the nights of murder, all leading to a shocking conclusion.

Although the play is far from perfect, it has that punch-you-in-your-gut quality that works for the intimate setting.  At times it's severely focused, and at others it just goes in directions you least expect (as when a character dons a wig and lip-syncs to Gloria Gaynor).  There is no escape, for the prisoners or for the audience...and the only escape given, in dream-like flashbacks, turns out to be murder. 

Playwright and director Raul Acosta has guided a work that is quite memorable, at times nearly unbearable, at times frustrating, but always engaging.  His talented actors—Ms. Valdes, Mr. Ocon and Mr. Campilongo—are so committed that we sometimes worry about their own mental health, not just the characters that they play. Their stories take us on unexpected paths, but we know this isn’t Kiki’s Delivery Service the moment we enter the theatre and see the woman in chains. We don’t’ know where the ride is going to take us, but we know it’s going to be rocky and extreme. 

The staging works, especially putting the murder weapons and evidence--a knife, a belt and a sex toy--in bags hanging from dangling chains.  

Mr. Acosta’s work asks the right question, coming down to the basic query: “Why would a person do such things?”  Like murder.  We get unforgettable glimpses as to the why’s and wonder what we would do in their place.  Certainly not killing, but what?  What separates these souls from our own lives?  What choices did they make that led them to the most dangerous, depraved and darkened corners of humanity?

Theatre is all about asking questions, probing without always getting a perfect response.  Theatre can ask but it doesn’t have to answer.  That’s what Mr. Acosta’s work says to us.  It lays it on the line—these true-to-life horrors—and tries to find meaning or explanations, even if none of them are satisfying. 

MURDERERS is certainly one of the more gripping plays that you’ll see this year.  It has one more performance—Sunday, June 15 at the Kress Contemporary.  See it to witness three fine actors bring a strong but troublesome script to life.  You’ll want to talk about it afterwards, debate it with friends, which is what any powerful show should do.   

After the performance, we find ourselves feeling lucky…lucky that we are not like these two killers, and lucky that we have never run into people like them at the wrong place and at the wrong time; I better knock on wood after writing such a statement.

MURDERERS runs a little more than 45 minutes.  It’s not for the easily affected or offended.  Please note that there are strobe light effects used, even though no warning was given prior to the performance at the Fringe.  Also, please note that the photos of real-life murder scenes are projected during it, which made the intense production really hit home: These awful events that we just saw depicted—horrific murders—actually happened. 

The show ends its Fringe run on Father’s Day at 5:30.