My overall impression
Zip Ties by Benjamin Schwartz is bloody frolic in the vein of Quentin Tarantino and Martin McDonagh, with a dash of Harold Pinter sprinkled on top. And that’s a good thing. The play, running just one hour, unravels with an urgency and tension that’s palpable. A pair of hitmen abduct a man who has just been released from prison; as one hitman finishes tying the victim’s hands with rope (he detests zip ties), the other stares blankly into the audience. It’s a wonderfully uncomfortable opening, and the play only escalates as time passes. The two hitmen repeatedly question their victim (Why are they here? What has he done to warrant their services?), and occasionally take jabs at him (and each other), before being joined by an assortment of characters. These run the gamut: a parole officer, an Irish crime lord, a Jehovah’s Witness. As more characters arrive, and why they are there is revealed, Schwartz begins to equalize the group in a decidedly bloody fashion. One by one, the characters are picked off, but the play’s hilarity only continues to grow until its inevitable climax. Zip Ties is darkly funny, swift, and filled with tension. Looking for a shot of adrenaline to the heart a la Pulp Fiction in your Fringe experience? Here it is.
