‘Kenrex’ Review: Plunging Into the Violent World of True Crime

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‘Kenrex’ Review: Plunging Into the Violent World of True Crime

The play, by Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian at the Lucille Lortel Theater, tells the story of a brutal bully who was shot and killed in plain view.

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Jack Holden in the one-man show “Kenrex” at the Lucile Lortel Theater in Manhattan.

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Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

By

Elisabeth Vincentelli

April 27, 2026,

12:16 p.m. ET

Kenrex

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The true-crime genre might be wildly popular, but you wouldn’t know it from watching theater in the United States. When it does pay attention, the stage prefers looking at true crime through the distancing lens of musicals, from “Chicago” to “Parade” and “The Scottsboro Boys.” The last two are about miscarriages of justice, which are not uncommon in plays, along with stories of redemption that leave a smidgen of hope that the system could — maybe, eventually — work, to an extent. One dramatized account of exoneration,

“The Fear of 13,”

is running on Broadway now, alongside

“Dog Day Afternoon,”

the ultimately touching tale of a real-life bank robber with a cause.

For something closer to one of the proliferating podcasts or documentaries about a horrifyingly brutal case, where catharsis is tainted by doubt, if there at all, you have to turn to Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian’s

“Kenrex.”

This British import, which opened on Sunday at the Lucille Lortel Theater, tells the true story of Ken Rex McElroy, a violent bully who terrorized the rural Missouri town of Skidmore, until the fateful day in July 1981 when he was shot and killed in plain view of many, many witnesses — all of whom said they hadn’t seen anything and couldn’t identify the culprit(s). “Kenrex” now joins the ranks of a McElroy cottage industry that also includes Harry N. MacLean’s best-selling book “In Broad Daylight” (1988), the six-part docuseries

“No One Saw a Thing”

(2019) and several podcast episodes.

It’s formally that the production distinguishes itself from that pack, a one-man show with a visual and sonic virtuosity that plunges theatergoers in a violent noir world. But the show lacks critical perspective on the events, besides an epilogue that feels hastily tacked on.

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, Holden cuts a tidy, almost milquetoast figure that’s perfect for the role of David Baird, a young county prosecutor who recounts the events to a federal agent three years after they happened. This professional outfit also serves as a blank canvas for Holden’s portrayal of the show’s other 34 characters — all of them based on the real dramatis personae, except for the bartender Ida, a composite. (Kelly Burke and James Sobol Kelly provide prerecorded voices, which are used very sparingly.)

Holden (whose performance in London recently earned him the

Olivier Award

for best actor) hopscotches among characters in rapid succession without costume changes, simply adjusting his posture and modifying his pitch. The main props are various mics that add vocal filters so people can sound, for example, as if they were having a phone conversation; Giles Thomas’s richly detailed, occasionally immersive sound design is a huge asset to the production.

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