I found the most horrifying aspect of the affair was the audience response, with people cheering and laughing at Malkovitch’s “jokes”. The material wasn’t light or cheerful; it was a sociopath trying to charm his way out of recrimination for vile acts. The piece undermined Unterweger, it did not celebrate him. The decerebrate, fawning, star-struck response of the audience was vulgar, unsettling and disappointing. I expect more from Ann Arbor than cheap guffaws in response to lines about abusing women.

If the goal was to “dupe” the audience and then reveal that they’d been duped, then that failed utterly in Ann Arbor. Half of the AA audience was completely aware of the enormity of Unterweger’s acts from start to finish, and those people left and have written nasty reviews. The other half was star-struck by Malkovich and had completely thoughtless responses to the content throughout the entire show; their responses never changed, they remained the people who laughed heartily (and mindlessly) in knee-jerk reaction to “jokey” tones throughout the entire show.

As to Malovich, he gradually receded from the character over the night until the monologues were almost purely in his own voice, not Unterweger’s. He started strong but ended up phoning it in by the middle/end.

If the purpose of the piece was a sudden reveal, you’ve got to find a uniquely ignorant audience that doesn’t grasp the concept of “recidivist serial killer”. Other than a reveal that can’t work because the piece is historical, the show seemed to have no real point.