Killology is a computer game, a rather nasty computer game where the more vicious the killing, the more points you accumulate, and it’s made Paul a fortune. He’s one character in this play; the other two are Davey, the victim of a crime which may be inspired by it, and Davey’s estranged dad.
I loved playwright Gary Owen’s last two plays Violence & Son and Iphigenia in Splott, but I struggled with this at first, largely because of the non-linear narrative and the lack of interaction between the characters, but it drew me in. This is partly because it is unpredictable, and you have to work to piece it together, and partly because of the three brilliant performances.
It’s an excellent debate about how computer games may influence behaviour, but it’s much more than that. It covers issues of guilt, revenge and retribution, parental accountability, but above all father and son relationships, which seem to be indestructible, whatever is thrown at them. It becomes very moving at times, particularly when Davey ends up looking after his dad, which he never did for him.
I was impressed by Sion Daniel Young when he played the lead in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on my second visit and I was just as impressed by his performance here as Davey, particularly how he matures from boy to man. Sean Gleeson plays his dad, Alan, with great conviction and passion. Richard Mylan does very well conveying the somewhat unsympathetic character of Paul.
It may not be up to the previous two, but it does confirm Owen as a major playwright and it’s well worth catching.
Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog 
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