Pop culture and media have made people believe that murderers are either calculated psychopaths, violent sociopaths, or criminal masterminds with a mixture of elements of the two. In Clown Funeral’s play The Murderer neither really seems to be true. The three person play is based on a poem by Luke Kennard, which may be an appropriate read before seeing the show, but it’s not technically a necessity. It’s a simply staged production but the themes are far deeper and this show was staged just a few years ago, now streaming a filmed live version for theatre fans everywhere to watch and enjoy.
The Murderer is played by Ella Terbay, and the Carer by Patrick Tobin.
There are three actors, one playing multiple characters otherwise referred to as Everyone Else, played by Sam Thorogood. The Murderer is played by Ella Terbay, and the Carer by Patrick Tobin. The three performers move about the stage with only three life-sized frames that make up the set, directed by Sam George in a show that’s concept is very specialized. In this fictitious world, murderers are given the chance to be reintegrated into the public. Released into something of a provisional period, the Murderer is assigned to the Carer, whose duty it is to take her in to his home, monitor her, and insure that she’s eventually rehabilitated and allowed to move freely within society again. The rub is that the Murderer doesn’t seem much like a murderer even though she is, and soon it is the Carer who appears to be the more menacing of the two as the story progresses.
The Clown Funeral theatre troupe was incredibly minimalist in their approach to The Murderer. Aside from the three frames on the stage, there’s no set. There are also no costume changes, very few technical cues, and all of the actors are on the stage for most of the production once it begins with no intermission. The abstract nature of the show accompanied by George’s direction gives the production its intrigue, and Tobin and Terbay’s relationship is the driving force of the plot, as their perceived roles tend to slowly switch towards the end of the show. Tobin does well enough to begin as something of a nerd, before later transitioning into a more unstable persona, Terbay remaining fairly consistent throughout. Thorogood is tasked with doing multiple things and playing multiple people so though there’s not much individual development on his end, his workload is large and he is accommodating for his purpose in the show.
Not every theatre production has to have a large budget to emit positive attributes, and Clown Funeral is proof of this with their production of The Murderer. Their willingness as a company to stray from the norm of stage plays will no doubt assist in helping them grow their audience, assuming they continue to put out interesting work such as this. This version of the show was filmed in 2016, but they have uploaded it to YouTube and it can also be found on whatsonstage.com at no cost to view it.
