Theater Review by Walter Murphy . . .
Nannie Doss died in prison in 1965 at the age of 59. She killed four of her five husbands using rat poison and arsenic. Also, allegedly, she burnt a house to the ground. Not a woman to be crossed nor one to harbor regrets or remorse.
Despite these horrific acts, she gave an interview to Life magazine while in prison in Oklahoma, which is the basis for The Giggling Granny, now playing at Theater for the New City. Such was the strength and charm of Marilyn Chris’s superb performance that this elderly serial killer comes across as a sympathetic figure, a wronged woman who killed to make things right . . . for herself.
Ms. Chris, a well-known, accomplished, and successful actor in a variety of media, presents a vain and charming sociopath whose life was a decades-long crime spree. In addition to the four husbands she poisoned, she admitted to murdering two of her children, two grandsons, a mother-in-law, and her mother.
Speaking in a syrupy Southern accent, Ms Chris’s monologue recalls the body counts of her husbands and the offending behaviors that led to their various demises. Seated at a table in her best prison blues, she spun her casual confession with a devil-may not care whether she was justified to murder and move on.
So captivating was Chris’s performance that I found myself less shocked by what she did than how poorly her ill-fated husbands treated her. She perfectly portrayed the very dimensions of a sociopath: cruel, yet charming, with little regard for others.
Doss’s crimes occurred in the last century when it was a lot easier to avoid detection and punishment. The current web of law enforcement hadn’t yet been spun, nor its tools deployed. For instance, communications between potential suitors was through the mail and Lonely Hearts clubs. That’s how Granny sought new husbands. Nonetheless, she showed herself to be astonishingly guilty: she confessed willingly and against the advice of her counsel. Doss avoided the death penalty because the judge in her last arrest didn’t want to be known as the first to sentence a woman, and a mother and grandmother at that, to death. These were different times. These were the 1950s.
Now, serial killers and their tales are very popular. Stories of such mayhem can be found in books like Black Widow, Torture Mom; in podcasts such as “The Casual Criminals,” and “Crime All the Time”; and on streaming services, like Apple TV (“Murderous Minds”), Netflix (countless examples) and Hulu (“Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer”). One can find the Nannie Doss story easily. But what one can’t find is her story told by such an extraordinary actor in person. One can understand what a sociopath is, but to be swayed by their behavior is the strength of Ms. Chris’s performance.
The Giggling Granny was written by Marsha Lee Sheiness and directed by Jim Semmelman. The script does well to stick to the murders of the husbands because Doss was a busy killer. Her spoken rationale for her murders, as crafted by the playwright, made for a taut story. Direction was spot on as the sharp focus of the 60-minute play was on the telling of that story and Ms. Chris’s performance.
The Giggling Granny. Through January 26 at Theater for the New City (155 First Avenue, between Ninth and Tenth Streets).
Photos: Jonathan Slaff
