Self Defense, or Death of Some Salesmen
A serial killer is at the heart of Carson Kreitzer’s Self Defense, or Death of Some Salesmen, first produced in 2001 and now being staged by Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Jolene Palmer is a slightly fictionalized version of Aileen Wuornos, subject of the 2003 film Monster. Wuornos killed seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990 and was executed for her crimes in 2002. Where Monster paints a psychological portrait of her, showing how a mixture of bravado, fear, anger, neediness, and denial led her to kill, Self Defense offers intellectual arguments about cultural attitudes toward perpetrators and victims. Female killers are seen to be farther outside normal boundaries than male murderers, and prostitute victims are thought to be “asking for it.” Fear of becoming a victim is less widespread if someone is murdering hookers, but when middle-aged white guys are turning up dead, concern is more general. Kreitzer raises all these issues and more but without coming to any conclusions. Despite some excellent performances, ultimately the play is a disappointment.
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Then there are three theories Kreitzer seems to have made up herself–all of them interesting but unlikely. The first is that the jury rejects Jolene’s plea of self-defense because as a prostitute selling her body she has no self left to defend. The second is that, even though she used a gun and killed strangers (most women murder their lovers or children and use other means), Jolene isn’t actually a serial killer because she was likely in danger and didn’t take any trophies from her victims. It’s not clear why the label “serial killer” matters so much to Kreitzer–she never denies that Jolene killed all seven men. Perhaps her point is that the term “serial killer” denies Jolene justice, since it turns her trial into a media circus.
