Review: MAKING A KILLING, UK Tour

Making a Killing

Franz Schmidt (1555-1634) was the executioner of Nuremberg for forty-five years carrying out 319 executions and numerous torture, interrogations and corporal punishments . Sometimes it was a hanging, sometimes by the sword and sometimes we heard grimly by the wheel, breaking every bone in the victim's body. He notes that many in his profession were sadists or brutes but he viewed himself as a servant of the law and sought when it suited the case to despatch them with a kind of mercy with minimal suffering. 

He meticulously kept a ledger of his victims and Ben Kernow has used this to write a play about him in a modern language full of familiar idioms and cliches. Whether by design or due to budgetary constraints it is staged as a two hander with the author and the Irish actor Stephen Cavanagh playing all the roles. Director Millie Brolly brings a precision to the movement and use of the simple stage setting to help guide us to who is who throughout. A spin, change of posture and accent and the two men physically transform themselves into different characters- often simultaneously having a conversation with themselves in two guises. It is a feat of performance but the format does begin to defeat itself and asks too much of the audience to imagine the other character still in place. 

Cavanagh plays the Executioner, Schmidt, a man reluctantly succeeding his own father in the role but aspiring to be admitted to the more respectable Guild of Surgeons to escape the taint on his family of the role. He has a conscious but is trapped in the routine. His new  assistant Claus Kohler, played by Kernow, is learning the business but also starts to question his motivation. When local prostitute Annie, is found guilty of a fabricated charge of Witchcraft and the volume of executions is stepped up by the Magistrate Hagendorn, the executioner and his assistant begin to question his integrity and motives . 

The historical tale prompts us to draw parallels about the integrity and ambition of current national leaders and the actions they take to protect themselves or further their claims for promotion or reward. It may be over four hundred years after the play is set but the message that we should all seek out the truth and expose corrupt leaders feels very relevant today. 

The narrative is a shocking reflection of that era but is cleverly brought to life by the two actors characterisations. At a time when plays and especially new plays are in short supply in regional theatres, the Ha Hum Ah and Minack Theatre producers should be applauded and encouraged to buck the trend. The audience appreciated their efforts and for those who like something a little different we urge you to give it a try.

*** Three Stars

Reviewed by Nick Wayne

For more information, click here