Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Two performers and a crack design team: Taking a look at the commonalities of the New York premieres of KENREX and NEW OWNER

• By drediman
• May 14, 2026
• No Comments

Also currently Off-Broadway, you’ll find a pair of shows that have striking aspects in common — namely, that they’re each animated by two performers and one crack design team. But really, the commonalities don’t end there — both are also international productions that are making their New York premieres this spring. Additionally, theatrical storytelling is central to each of them, despite one being a family-friendly puppet show and the other a pungent crime thriller. As always, read on for my thoughts.

KENREX
Lucille Lortel Theatre
Through June 27

Earlier this week at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village, I was able to catch up with the New York transfer of the acclaimed London production of Kenrex (RECOMMENDED), a self-professed theatrical true crime thriller written by Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian (who are also, respectively, appear in and directed the production). In short, their play with music tells the story of one Kenrex, a menacing man of mythic proportions who terrorizes a small Missouri town during the early 1980s. When the legal authorities and police system fail to protect the town’s citizens after a series of threatening incidents, they ultimately take matters into their own hands to implement justice themselves — but are they justified in doing so if it means murdering in plain sight the man they at once fear and despise? That’s the moral dilemma that play leaves you with, which is probably the most thought-provoking aspect of the work. Otherwise, the piece prioritizes high octane storytelling, which is told from a dizzying array of perspectives — i.e., the title character, his wife, the attorneys on the case, various townspeople, etc. — via the herculean efforts a single actor, a single musician, and one sensational design team (particularly the elaborate sound and lights by Giles Thomas and Joshua Pharo). To be sure, Holden gives a muscular, tireless tour-de-force performance — seamlessly playing 35 characters in total — which recently bagged him the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play. Kudos must also go to John Patrick Elliott, who provides the driving and atmospheric live music and soundscapes against which the play’s suspenseful events unfold. But this is ultimately a team effort, and under Stambollouian, they’ve cast a bewitching novelistic spell that’s a meaty and thrillingly-paced page-turner (indeed, the production would seem an ideal pick as an Audible Theater offering and would have fit snugly at the Minetta Lane Theatre just a few blocks away).

NEW OWNER
The Last Great Hunt at New Victory Theater
Through May 17

Coming all the way from Perth, Australia, it was The Last Great Hunt’s production of New Owner (RECOMMENDED), which can currently be found charming families at 42nd Street’s New Victory Theater, New York’s premier company dedicated to presenting children’s theater. Created by Tim Watts and Arielle Gray and meticulously performed by Watts and Jen Bagg, the show is in essence a wordless cinematic puppet theater piece about the adventures of Bart, a young dog who gets separated from his elderly new owner Mabel and is pummeled headlong into the underbelly of a big, bad (nameless) city. On his own, Bart must navigate hunger, relentless dog-nappers, and unexpected new companionship in the form of a fellow stray dog. Told in its entirety in just under an hour — largely from Bart’s anxious perspective — the piece prioritizes a sense of discovery and journeying over psychological nuance and specificity. However, that’s justifiable given that the show must contend with its young audience’s often fleeting attention spans, even if the show’s overarching narrative arc isn’t quite as satisfying as you’d expect (that being said, Chloe Flockart’s puppet design for the show’s two dogs is simply adorable). Just as with Kenrex, one of the things that struck me most was not only the remarkable resourcefulness of the staging, but also the thoroughly realized world the cast and creative team have created through the thorough melding of music, design elements, and performances. Indeed, with astonishing polish and precision, Anthony Watts’ multimedia design has masterfully integrated fluid video animation and Rachael Dease and Rachel Claudio’s whimsical, wistful score — which provides the production’s heartfelt emotional center — with Watts and Bagg’s uncannily convincing puppetry work.