Inside the mind of a murderer

Dead children, gender dysfunction, cannibals and necrophilia are all in a day’s work for Ian Mozdzen

Psycho killer, qu’est-ce que c’est? Ian Mozdzen (seen in 2008’s The Rite) based his latest play, Infinity Land, on three serial killers. Leif Norman

For many theatre-goers, a night out may involve an elegant evening of soothing soliloquies and happily-ever-after tales of romance. These people will want to skip Infinity Land.

Infinity Land is the latest play from 2003 University of Winnipeg theatre/English graduate Ian Mozdzen. It focuses on the twisted lives of homosexual serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Gilles de Rais. The 31-year-old actor/playwright is fully aware that a one-man show about child murderers may not be for the average theatre attendee.

“You may want to leave,” Mozdzen said with a laugh. “The theatre only seats around 20-30 people so standing up and walking out would make quite a statement.”

Making quite a statement is what Mozdzen is quickly becoming known for. His previous plays also dealt with the dark corners of the human psyche: Obscene was about self-castration, while Gilles was centred around the 15th century Marshall of France who reportedly murdered hundreds of children.

It’s not just me on stage chopping up bodies. I try to understand the mindscape of a serial killer.

Ian Mozdzen, actor

Mozdzen’s work has garnered both positive and negative responses from critics and audiences. Gilles even piqued the interest of the police, who were concerned with Mozdzen breaking public obscenity laws.

“It [the play] just attracted a larger audience,” Mozdzen said in regards to the attention from the bluecoats.

Despite the extra attention his work receives, Mozdzen makes it clear that Infinity Land is not a performance of gimmicks and cheap thrills.

“I have done lots of research on these men,” the actor said. “It’s not just me on stage chopping up bodies. I try to understand the mindscape of a serial killer. The self-hate and the inner struggles that they have, we all have – we all process them differently.”

As an actor, Mozdzen has a responsibility to show even the most despicable of characters as human, but he is also a showman trying to rattle his audiences. In doing so, he has come up with some interesting methods to ensure that this is a unique experience for the audience.

“Well, I’m already there when you walk-in, [the performance] has already started. I’m there, dressed as a clown [a la Gacy], making balloon shapes and breaking them.”

This might sound unnerving and creepy, but Mozdzen is just getting started.

“The balloons are filled with mustard, so when they break, the vinegar in the mustard makes for a rotting corpse smell.”

By the end of the performance, the audience, who are seated slightly above the stage, get to smell the odors that come with the occupational hazards of being a serial killer with a limited crawl space.

With literally dozens of cookie-cutter true-crime dramas on television nightly, it would be a crime for devotees of the genre to miss a chance to see a performance as unique as Infinity Land.

Published in Volume 63, Number 23 of The Uniter (March 12, 2009)

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