‘An excavation of collective guilt, community fear, and the void left when justice fails’
Welcome to Skidmore — a tight-knit farming community in northwest Missouri. Like many small American towns, its younger generations have slipped away in search of better opportunities, leaving the place in slow decline. Kenrex brings the forensic thrill of true crime with the energy of a hard-rock gig, attempting to unpack the events outside a bar on 10 July 1981. Where did they begin? Who is to blame?, writes Charlotte Lang
Our protagonist is Ken Rex McElroy, a felon with an explosive temper, the fifteenth child in a family of tenant farmers. He’s enacted his reign of terror on the town, indicted 21 times for accusations of assault, statutory rape, arson, cattle and hog rustling and burglary, but saved by his sly lawyer McFadin.
Ken flaunts his impunity with swagger as the town’s resentment reaches a fever pitch. But there are no easy answers. Kenrex resists easy narrative; we’re left with bureaucratic failures, fearful silence, and half-baked truths.
Jack Holden co-wrote the play with Ed Stambollouian, who recently adapted Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty, and before that wrote Cruise, about the Aids crisis. The script specifies that it should be performed with a large cast, but it’s a one-man show — Holden masterfully stands in for the whole town, deftly switching between characters with physical contortion. He seamlessly evokes the menagerie of Skidmore, at once the teenager wife, the pompous mayor, and the rattlesnake talking lawyer.
The set is sparse, reminiscent of an interrogation room: a fluorescent green floor, an LED-lit door frame, and a lone tape recorder. But composer John Patrick Elliott’s live score electrifies the space, sliding between hard-rock riffs and country twang, the score conjures a claustrophobic atmosphere in real time — haunting, violent, and pulsing with the immediacy of a mosh pit.
Holden’s performance is nothing short of virtuoso. He commands the stage with razor-sharp precision, holding the audience through every shift. Kenrex is less a straightforward true-crime retelling than an excavation of collective guilt, community fear, and the void left when justice fails.
The Other Palace Playhouse to 1 Feb, 2026.
Booking and full details: https://theotherpalace.co.uk/kenrex/
