DJ is a laconic man in black. Mike, his partner in crime, is loquacious, high-strung, and likeably goofy, even when stomping heads. ("I hate this part," he says, just before delivering the fatal blow.) Having been hired for unspecified reasons to track down and kill a mysterious man named Harry, DJ and Mike cut a bloody swath through the backwoods of Australia, killing virtually everyone but their intended victim. No one, least of all playwright Mark Kilmurry, is much concerned with who Harry is or the purpose of the assassination; for these two hapless (or possibly just inept) hit men, the journey is the thing.
DJ and Mike are played with considerable brio by Nick Stevenson and Jeremy Waters, two actors from Down Under whose dedication to Australian drama prompted them to form the Outhouse Theatre Company. (Nice name, guys.) The script's reference points include classic pulp novels, buddy movies, and British gangster films of the lock, stock, and two smoking barrels school. Clips of the Mel Gibson Hamlet and a reading of "To be or not to be" by — horrors! — William Shatner suggest Shakespearean aspirations, though this connection escapes me.
What make the play more than the sum of its many influences are the black wit of Kilmurry's dialogue and the vivid physicality of the acting. Director Craig Baldwin elicits as much go-for-broke vitality from the supporting cast as he does from the two leads — notably Victoria Roberts as Pru, a gruesome, chain-smoking hag in a leopard-skin robe.
With its opening credits and filmed close-ups (projected on a screen at the back of the stage), boot-stomping violence, and soundtrack of hip tunes, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Waters and Stevenson would rather be making movies. (Apparently the screenplay adaptation of Mercy Thieves has already been optioned.) Still, they demonstrate that traditionally cinematic materials can be successfully adapted to the stage, and connoisseurs of cutting-edge crime fiction should have a swell time.
Presented by Outhouse Theatre Company
at the Kraine Theatre, 85 E. Fourth St., NYC.
Oct. 11-27. Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.
(212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.