Shows can have ornate settings and special effects like those in this season’s The Lost Boys; now playing at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in Greenwich Village, KENREX only uses an open door frame, several free-standing microphones and a mobile staircase. Shows can have elaborate costumes like Cats The Jellicle Ball; KENREX features an actor wearing a business suit. Shows like Harry Potter and The Cursed Child have large casts of actors; KENREX has one performer.

As the characters in KENREX, Jack Holden is one of the hardest working actors in the NY theater today. He plays more than 30 parts by only slightly altering his voice and posture. He often changes poses quickly in order to hold a conversation with himself.

The Lucille Lortel is a small intimate venue which enables the audience to really get a sense of how hard Holden is working. Accompanied by an original score performed live by guitarist John Patrick Elliott (sometimes a bit too loudly,) Holden moves the set pieces around himself and runs up and down the staircase.

He begins as David Baird, Nodaway County Assistant DA, responding to an official interview on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Then he becomes every other character in the 1981 murder case of Ken Rex McElroy in Skidmore, Missouri, a bully who terrorizes the small town for several years. Ken intimidates the would-be complainants and manages to avoid imprisonment. His slick-talking attorney, Richard McFadin uses every trick to successfully keep his client out of jail. Baird tries to prosecute Ken and put him in jail.

Directed by Ed Stambollouian who co-wrote the script with Holden, the play is about vigilante justice. When Ken Rex is finally killed, at least three guns fire several rounds at him, murdering him. Although several people witness the shooting, no one speaks up and to this day, the murder is unsolved.

Although Baird is incensed at justice not being served, many in the audience probably agree with the shooting. The show illustrates justice in the hands of the people when it is apparent the law can be manipulated. It is “justice served-vs justice taken.”

Holden works tirelessly and is the main reason to see the play. Recently, Sarah Snook played all 25 parts in an amazing performance of The Picture of Dorian Gray. However, she had some technological help, costumes and special effects. Jack Holden is by himself onstage. His portrayal of Ken Rex himself with a slight hunch of his shoulder, a raspy -sounding voice, even a slight sneer on his face is the most developed of his characters.

Earlier this year, Holden won the coveted Olivier Best Actor award in London against some notable competition, beating out John Lithgow and Bryan Cranston among others. In the US, he’s been nominated for best solo performance by some of the current theatrical organizations. Even if he doesn’t win any of the awards, he will certainly gain notice and appreciation. We all love creative trappings of the theater, but Holden reminds us how good acting by itself can make a memorable theater experience.