Herman Mudgett in Stereo: Alchemist's House of Horrors

Herman Mudgett a.k.a. Dr. H.H. Holmes was one of the first documented serial killers in the U.S. The story of a man who built a large abattoir of a house in Chicago in the late 19th Century is most notable to contemporary audiences as the central character in the popular contemporary novel The Devil in the White City. Some time ago, Aaron Kopec centered a play around Mudgett/Holmes in a chilling and exhaustive look at the man and his endeavors in Murder Castle. This Spring, Kopec takes a different look at the killer in House of Horrors: A Chronicle of H.H. Holmes.

Though it is firmly based in history, House of Horrors is rendered less from history and more from the imagination of its author. Where Murder Castle seemed more interested in setting the story in history, House of Horrors looks into the psychology of a man who confessed to killing 27 people in the late 19th century. 

As little is known of the background of Herman Mudgett, Kopec has an open playground to work with when exploring the pathology of a man who would go on to become a notorious murderer. We begin in Mudgett's childhood. Talented child actor Sebastian Weigman renders the portrait of a killer as a young man--someone just beginning to learn of life and death. He's a kid who is beginning in subtle ways to develop an unhealthy understanding of it all. Sharon Nieman-Koebert puts in a dutifully somber performance as Mudgett's mother. They share a few moments together. They're the kind of moments that could have happened in any childhood at the dawn of the 20th century, but because we know who this boy is to become, we know there is a sinister significance to these events. It's very moody. 

The play then shoots ahead to an adult Mudgett who is beginning to discover that people not only have a respect for doctors--they also have a respect for people dressed to look like doctors. Lee Rowley plays the man Weigman's character has become . . . a man who now calls himself H.H. Holmes. Early on, we see a potentially healthy relationship with a sweet and surprisingly independent woman named Clara, played with effervescent appeal by Sammich Dittloff. 

Of course, rather than pursue the healthy relationship with Clara, things get kind of messy for Holmes. He finds himself listening to the darker child within, still played by a talented Weigman. Early on, we see Rowley as the conscience to the dark inner child who sometimes speaks for him in the form of Weigman. It's a really interesting play on traditional stereotypes--the adult man is the innocent that is being corrupted by the aggressive, bloodthirsty infant within. . . an Id with teeth, claws and piercing eyes. As novel as this is, it could have gotten really weak by the drama's end had Kopec's script not shifted gears. Gradually, the corruption ensues and we have a very complex dynamic between Weigman and Rowley. 

Weigman is a student with First Stage who previously appeared in Outliers at the Alchemist. Here he continues to make a really good case for pursuing a career in acting if that's what he chooses to get into. There's a depth to the darkness he's conjuring here that far exceeds what one might expect from a kid who hasn't even graduated from high school yet. For his part, Rowley proves here the he can move beyond the comedy he's better known for and do some pretty dark dramatic work as well. In this respect, he's following Nate Press' lead in the original Alchemist Holmes drama. Press had been better known for comic work in various shows prior to appearing as Holmes in Murder Castle. Here Rowley also proves he can do decent dramatic work in the center of a stage in the role of Holmes.

Comic moments do hit the stage on occasion, particularly in a scene between Rowley and Harry Loeffler-Bell in the role of a bartender. The comic moment isn't necessarily needed at that point in the dramatic arc of the story. At that stage we haven't really seen any of the death at that stage. Though the worst of the darkness is yet to come, there's enough wit and subtlety to make the brief levity work thanks to a solidly decent comic dynamic between Loeffler-Bell and Rowley. 

Llz Whitford and Sarah Dill put in typically respectable performances in the production. The biggest challenge by far has to be the one given to Anna Figlesthaler in the role of a woman named Minnie. Figlesthaler, who played the female lead in Alchemist's Help Wanted some time ago, has the unenviable task of playing a rather important role that does' appear onstage until right before the whole thing wraps-up. She has almost no time to make an impression and then develop a relationship with the younger version of the killer as played by Weigman. The script doesn't give the character  a whole lot of room to do what she needs to do, but Figlesthaler does a remarkable job of hitting her emotional marks and making exactly the kind of impression she needs to make in order to help bring the drama to a close. Again, a really impressive performance by Figlesthaler. 

Aside from a rich sound design and costuming suggestive of the era, the production design is pretty sparse and abstract. Not that it doesn't look good--tall, ominous panels shift around the stage between scenes as the setting shifts. As this is an exploration of the mind of the murderer, we are taken visually to a place of darkness. It's a nice use of barren squalor that serves as a suitable setting for a dark, satisfying thriller. 

House of Horrors: A Chronicle of H.H. Holmes runs through May 11th at the Alchemist Theatre. For ticket reservations, visit Alchemist Theatre online. 

(And for anyone else who may be playing along, the Bladerunner reference in this particular Aaron Kopec script happens to include mention of the "Tyrell Corporation." Cute. So if you'd heard the name and were at all confused why the name of a big, evil corporation from Los Angeles 2019 was suddenly showing up in Chicago in the 1890s...now you know...)