“I can’t stand theatre. We get fucking bored in the theatre 99% of the time.” The quote from author Bernard-Marie Koltès on its bright yellow background glares up at me from my program. Koltès’ Roberto Zucco could never be defined as boring; the narrative structure, fascinating characters, and pure shock factor don’t allow for boredom. Neither does the current production being directed by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s artistic director ted witzel. The first play of Buddies’ 46th season, Roberto Zucco is a gritty, absurdist, true crime fever dream of a play.

Roberto Zucco is loosely based on the life of Italian serial killer Roberto Succo. Taking key moments from the real Succo’s life, and combining them with moments of pure absurdism, Koltès’ text neither glorifies nor admonishes its troubled subject. Rather, it looks at a man who feels invisible to society, a nameless face in the crowd, until he very much wants to be noticed. Blending the violence of his crimes with the softer, tormented side of him, Roberto Zucco feels like a true-crime show we could be watching on Netflix right now.

The influence of the French masters of Theatre of the Absurd is keenly felt in this text, and this production certainly leaned into these funny, strange, and often perplexing moments. The two jail guards at the beginning and end of the play are clearly a nod to Didi and Gogo from Waiting for Godot; even down to them talking about how they don’t have a “raison d’être” and don’t know why they’re standing there. Except these two characters are consistently proven wrong, and their Godot does appear every time. It’s also the black and white thinking of the characters which strikes me as belonging to that absurd tradition: that if you’re not a virgin, you must be a whore, and so we’ll simply have to send you away from our home to go and work the streets. The way the parents of that young girl rotate in and out of the scenes, as if on the gears of a cuckoo clock, wheeling their chaos with them feels very absurdist as well.

One of the best examples I think, is the scene in the park. It’s completely ludicrous; there’s a horrifying event happening, yet those characters are silent due to three onlookers whose commentary is stealing every ounce of the audience’s attention. Their solution to the conflict is equally as preposterous, so that when the ending does make its violent conclusion, the audience is jarred out of the strange and zaniness of it all right back into the harsh reality of Zucco’s mind and the rest of the play.

The performances given in Roberto Zucco are nuanced, vulnerable, and powerful all at once. Jakob Ehman stars at the titular character, bringing a calm ease to the violent murderer. Ehman’s charisma is undeniable, and he makes Zucco a likeable character despite his actions. Samantha Brown plays a young lady who falls for Zucco. Brown’s character is tenacious in some ways and delicate in others, thanks to a shining performance from Brown. The rest of the cast play multiple characters each, filling up the world of Roberto Zucco with fascinating personalities. Daniel MacIvor gives a stand-out performance, particularly as the old man Zucco meets in the subway. Yet his comedic timing is put to good use when he plays the jail guards alongside Oyin Oladejo. Oladejo’s performance as Robin’s sister pulls on the heartstrings, while her saucy Madam is something straight out of a Film Noir. Fiona Highet’s characters are so varied, and yet all of them have a ferocity about them which makes her a memorable member of this ensemble. Kwaku Okyere gives a strength and conviction to his characters which makes the unfathomable things they do somehow feel like the only option.

Aesthetically, the team behind Roberto Zucco have done a phenomenal job creating the seedy, undercurrent of society where Roberto Zucco finds himself. Michelle Tracey’s ingenious set and costume design, along with Logan Raju Cracknell’s brilliant lighting design combine into the ultimate atmosphere for Roberto Zucco. I love how Zucco bursts through the one wall of the set, only to be closed in by that same piece of wall at the end. The functionality of the set itself as well as the full use of the space and its levels require the audience to be ever-vigilant as they watch the play unfold. Dasha Plett’s composition and sound design completes the eerie and unsettling ambiance of the play, with portions of the text echoing long after they’ve been said.

Roberto Zucco is less about the murders themselves and far more about the internal life of the murderer himself; issues of identity, memory, and desire percolate throughout the text. And while these themes don’t necessarily make Zucco forgivable, they certainly make him human. Roberto Zucco is not for the faint of heart, however it certainly is a play which will leave you pondering and discussing it long after you’ve left the theatre. For more information and tickets, visit: https://buddiesinbadtimes.com/show/roberto-zucco/

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Cover Photo: Jakob Ehman as Roberto Zucco. Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh

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