Drawn toward comedies, James Behr rubbed his hands in director delight when he learned PM&L Theatre was producing “Kill Me Deadly.”
The Zion resident whose PM&L directing credits include ” No Sex Please” and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” said the noir comedy that opens May 20 was written by playwright Bill Robens in 2009 and is a mystery set in the 1940s in Los Angeles. “It’s somewhere between a farce and a melodrama,” Behr said.
Critics have called it a gumshoe satire. It’s a classic whodunit, challenging the audience to figure out who the villain is before the characters in the play do, Behr said. “A woman who owns a rare diamond gets done in. It’s the first of many killings. It’s kind of macabre in a funny sort of way.”
The main character, the private investigator, “does all these stormy night monologues,” he said. Meanwhile, his Girl Friday, the smarter detective of the two, does all the research and footwork related to the murders. Of course, the private investigator takes all the credit for solving the mystery.
Behr laughs out loud describing some of the play’s scenes, including a flashback in the park where one murder occurred. “The PI goes to talk to the hobos that hang out there and one of them says he heard a sound by the bridge, and there’s the flashback. The woman who got killed is there and is saying, ‘Oh you’re going to push me, aren’t you? I’m losing my balance. I’m going to fall.’ It’s a play-by-play of the murder.” “The biggest thing in this type of comedy is that it can’t be funny to the characters,” Behr said.
“They say ridiculous things and it’s perfectly logical to them and that’s what makes it funny.”
The play should spark conversation during intermission and at the end regarding the murderer’s identity, Behr said. “Someone will say, I thought it was him until he got killed too.’ Another will say, ‘I had it all figured out since intermission.'” Suspects include a smarmy bookworm, a snooty butler, an equestrian beauty and a nightclub singer who captures the private investigator’s heart, amid his suspicion that she might have done it.
Behr said the play features 29 characters, some of whom only get one appearance, so several of the actors are portraying more than one person.
Behr, who grew up in Waukegan and attended Carmel High School in Mundelein, where he acted in the spring musicals, said PM&L Theatre has been hearing from patrons that they want to see more comedies. “‘Kill Me Deadly’ is going to be really funny,” he said. “Even though it’s dark it will brighten up the audiences’ day.”
A movie version of the play starring Kirsten Vangsness of the television show “Criminal Minds” was released in April by indie movie house Indican Pictures and shown at Laemmle Theatre of Fine Arts in Los Angeles.
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer.
“Kill Me Deadly”
When: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, May 20-June 5
Where: PM&L Theatre, 877 N. Main St., Antioch
Tickets: $13-$15
Information: 847-395-3055; www.pmltheatre.com
More Top Picks Beats Pill Plus