✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios review ★★★★★

18 May 18 – 18 Aug 18, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Orlando Bloom makes villainy compelling in this otherwise lurid thriller about trailer trash Texans

By Lucy Brooks on 6/6/2018

13 CW readers are interested
A starring role for Orlando Bloom: Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios
A starring role for Orlando Bloom: Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios
Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios review 3 Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios review Grace Morgan
You can’t help but feel sordid after sitting through Killer Joe.


Base language, bloody violence and bare genitals make for plenty of thrills in this slick production, but Tracy Letts’s 1993 depiction of American poverty feels gratuitously brutal and devoid of much deeper meaning.


TRY CULTURE WHISPER
Receive free tickets & insider tips to unlock the best of London — direct to your inbox
Homegrown star turned Hollywood heartthrob Orlando Bloom sheds his elfish integrity and innocent pirate past with a searingly dark performance. As the titular Killer Joe, he prowls around the stage with remarkable presence. Chiseled arms, tight jeans and a few minutes of nudity give the fans their pound of flesh, but there’s enough acting clout to win over all the audience.


Policeman / contract killer Joe Cooper is a caricature of villainy, but Bloom imbues an uneasy, domineering charm. We watch transfixed in grim horror as he exposes and exploits the toxicity of one trailer trash family in Texas.




The violence unravels with filmic detail thanks to Grace Smart's meticulous trailer set design.


Hapless hick Chris (Adam Gillen) is in dire debt for dealing drugs. Killing his mother for the life insurance payout seems the only way out. Father Ansel (Steffan Rhodri) needs minimal convincing to plot and profit from his ex-wife’s murder. Even infantile, gentle Dottie (Sophie Cookson) is okay with a hitman bumping off her negligent alcoholic mother.


The bitter comedy curdles when Killer Joe demands to have Dottie as his downpayment for carrying out the murder.


Despite a spirited performance from Sophie Cookson, Dottie rarely feels no more than a red-neck manifestation of the manic pixie dream girl, with traces of PTSD. We have to watch the virginal, overtly child-like young woman handed over, unwrapped like meat. Later, some audience members cackle but most recoil as step-mother Sharla (Neve McIntosh) is sexually abused and humiliated before the final, blood-stained bout of violence.


There’s power in such discomfort, and it’s a testament to the talent of the cast and the impressive production values that this show is so luridly entertaining.


But there’s something callous in this horror. The only insight and motivation we’re given to the characters’ depravity is their poverty.


Of course, not all drama needs to have a moral. But poverty and desperation make for a nauseating punchline and leave you with a nasty aftertaste.



by Lucy Brooks

What Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios review
Where Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY | MAP
Nearest tube Charing Cross (underground)
When 18 May 18 – 18 Aug 18, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £55
Website



Up to £63.25
A starring role for Orlando Bloom: Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios
Booking closed
18 May 18 - 18 Aug 18

Killer Joe, Trafalgar Studios

See all tickets

Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 29 September –1 October. Photo: Frieze Sculpture Park
Things to do in London this weekend: 29 September – 1 October
London exhibitions to see this month
Top exhibitions on now in London
Omar Sy in Lupin part 3, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
What to watch on TV this week

Editor's Picks

 The best bookshops with cafes in London
The best bookshops with cafes in London
Unsane film review
Unsane film review
Wes Anderson Isle of Dogs exhibition, The Store
Wes Anderson: Isle of Dogs exhibition, The Store
Ebla Mari and Dave Turner in The Old Oak (Photo: StudioCanal)
In cinemas this weekend: Ken Loach returns for another bleak but hopeful social drama
Nan Goldin X Supreme
A first look at Supreme X Nan Goldin
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
13

Best plays 2018

Best theatre to see

You might like

  • Sharon D Clarke in Caroline, Or Change, Hampstead Theatre

    Caroline, Or Change, Playhouse Theatre

  • Secret Life of Humans, New Diorama Theatre

    Secret Life of Humans, New Diorama Theatre

  • Complicite: The Encounter - watch online

    Complicite: The Encounter - watch online

  • We Know Not What We May Be, Barbican Centre

    We Know Not What We May Be, Barbican Centre



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×