Jack Holden plays thirty-five characters at a speed and precision that borders on the impossible in this true crime drama currently playing in the West Village. You could walk out satisfied by the craft alone.
The title refers to Ken Rex McElroy, who terrorized a small town in northwest Missouri through the 1970s and early 1980s, was charged with dozens of crimes, and was never successfully convicted. His story has been told before, in a book and a film both called In Broad Daylight. The current play premiered in Sheffield and sold out two London runs, winning Holden the 2026 Olivier Award for Best Actor. Holden and Stambollouian tell it as a taped interview between a county ADA and an FBI agent, recounting the case from memory on a bare stage.
Holden introduces each character with enough physical and vocal specificity that when they return, he needs only a fraction of a second to bring them back. A tilt of the head, a dropped shoulder, a change in the center of gravity, and you are watching someone else entirely. He is mid-sentence as one person and mid-sentence as another, and you never lose the thread. There is no trick here, no projection, no costume change, no wig. Just a man in neutral clothes, the scaffolding, the staircase, and the occasional microphone, making thirty-five people exist through precision and commitment. It is hard to believe this show clocks at over two hours, including intermission.
Musician John Patrick Elliott is on stage with him, and his presence shifts the medium. A punching western chord. An ambient underscore for the quieter moments. A radio ad that introduces a character. A pastor preaching. Nothing here is just a scene change. Every transition contributes to the story, and Elliott’s range gives Holden something other than his own body to tell it with.
Ed Stambollouian co-wrote the piece with Holden, and his direction does two things at once: turns the dial up to eleven and insists that every transition is precise. The speed is the spectacle. The discipline is what makes it work. Anisha Fields’ set gives Holden enough to shift the mood at pace, and one anchor: a reel-to-reel tape recorder that dominates the front of the stage. It is the container for all the chaos. It watches everything and changes nothing. Eckleburg’s glasses on the billboard.
One actor carries the whole town: its memory, its fear, its complicity.
The story reaches a resolution that should feel like justice. It does not.
The story of the failure of the law is not new. But I am watching it in 2026, after years of watching institutions fail in plain sight, and it hit me in a way I was not expecting.
The show ended, and I realized I was sad. The tape has been filed.
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Kenrex runs at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street, New York, NY 10014, through June 27, 2026. Runtime is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, including one intermission. Tickets from $50; $32 same-day rush available in person at the box office. Tickets at lortel.org
Written by Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian. Music by John Patrick Elliott. Directed by Ed Stambollouian. Set and costume design by Anisha Fields. Lighting and video design by Joshua Pharo. Sound design by Giles Thomas. Movement direction by Sarah Golding.
© Adam Josephs, 2026
