Chapman
Thus the Unabomber becomes a symbol of crazed patriotic fervor standing against the forces of technology and commodification instead of a crazed, antisocial lunatic who can’t construct a sentence. Valerie Solanas, the attempted slayer of Andy Warhol, becomes a spokesperson for the disenfranchised instead of a profoundly disturbed megalomaniac. Roberto Zucco can be transformed from a serial killer into a poet and a prophet by French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltes. John Hinckley and John Wilkes Booth are able to take their places alongside Georges Seurat as the subjects of a Stephen Sondheim musical. And Nick Cave, promoting his new album Murder Ballads, can cheekily observe that “there are a lot worse things in the world than murder.”
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Artists frequently justify their attraction to the Gacys and Dahmers of the world with the argument that it’s necessary to explore the darker side of human nature. I don’t buy it. Though there’s some validity to trying to comprehend the criminal mind to prevent similar crimes, artistic treatments generally contribute more to morbid fascination than understanding. And although depictions of murders have become far more graphic in theater and cinema over the last decade, it seems the only tangible result is a culture so inured to violence that it can laugh off murder in Quentin Tarantino movies and Nazi genocide in Schindler’s List.
Since Chapman includes little drama, well-constructed language, or deep consideration of the sort of society that could produce a Mark David Chapman, the main reasons people will see this show, despite Hiatt’s intentions, are prurient–the same reasons that interviews with Richard Speck and John Wayne Gacy draw killer ratings during sweeps week. Those folks will go home disappointed, but so will anybody who goes for a different reason. The audience won’t identify with this creep, but they won’t make much sense out of him either. Hiatt is generally believable in his portrayal, except when he shouts lamely at his imaginary companions and pummels the wall. But he could just as easily be playing John Hinckley. Give him a beard and some techno dialogue and he could be Ted Kaczynski. Put him in drag and he could be Valerie Solanas.
