Kleinman, a meek salesman, is awoken in the early hours of the morning by a mob whose leader forces him to join their vigilante group dedicated to catching an anonymous, illusive and, apparently, motiveless serial killer. Without a clear description of the murderer, who frequently changes his modus operandi, the police have so far drawn a blank. The vigilante gang, however, claims to have a sure-fire plot to catch the maniac, but when our anti-hero enquires about this grand plan, each gang member replies that they’re only aware of their own part in it so the killer won’t catch on. As a result the overall plan remains a complete mystery.

Despite repeated requests for more detailed instructions and guidance from a number of characters he meets along the way, Kleinman remains clueless as to his role, so he stumbles from one scene to the next in a state of utter confusion. This approach leaves Kleinman to question, “I can’t work out if we’re too well organised or not organised enough”. The play concludes with Kleinman coming face to face with the killer – will he be able to make the maniac see sense or will he meet a similar gruesome fate to others before him?

Barn Youth members step into the spotlight with Death, an absurd one-act black comedy by Woody Allen, based on Ionesco’s The Killer or Tueur Sans Gages. The meek, bumbling, yet wise-cracking anti-hero, Kleinman, is instantly recognisable as an incarnation of Allen himself in movies such as Bananas, Sleepers, Manhattan and Shadows and Fog (which is drawn from the play). With themes of mob rule, paranoia and conspiracy, the play, written in 1975, still resonates today.