On Saturday, October 1st, John Malkovich walked onto the stage at Hill Auditorium in a white suit and aviator sunglasses. The Academy Award nominee came to Ann Arbor for a one night performance of “The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer,” where Malkovich played real-world Jack Unterweger. Juxtaposing Malkovich’s darkly comic portrayal of a convicted murderer and acclaimed prison poet were Sophie Klussmann and Claire Meghangi, two sopranos who portrayed operatic versions of Unterweger’s victims. Accompanying the performance was the 40-piece Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra.Malkovich’s wickedly witty performance of Unterweger — who, after being pardoned by the Austrian president at the time, murdered 11 more women — ranged from black comedy to the hauntingly true story of gruesome murders, drawing laughs from the crowd that varied in comfort.
As Jack Unterweger’s story unfolds, so too does his seemingly twisted and narcissistic mind. Malkovich’s clever humor almost made the audience forget that they were being entertained by an accused serial killer, which furthered the overarching question of the performance: did he really do it?
By the end of the show, there is little doubt of Unterweger’s guilt. However, he distracts the audience with a (literal) song-and-dance, flinging bras and flowers across the stage while debating his innocence. Malkovich outsmarted the crowd in such a way that left the audience with one last, haunting thought: was I charmed by — or even sympathizing with — a serial killer?
