Hit Men ‘Tom And Jerry’ Puts Darkly Humorous Spin On A Gruesome And Violent Occupation

“Tom and Jerry” Saturday, Oct. 5, Valley Repertory Theatre

‘Tom and Jerry” is not what you might expect from a small community theater, unless that small community theater happens to have Quentin Tarantino or Robert DeNiro hanging around.

Remember that scene in “Pulp Fiction” in which the guy accidentally splatters a guy’s brains all over the back seat? That’s what Rick Cleveland’s “Tom and Jerry” is like.

It’s a violent, foul-mouthed black comedy about two hit men and their murderous exploits.

It’s not exactly inspirational - but it’s compulsively watchable and darkly humorous. Cleveland milks delicious irony out of the workmanlike way his two killers approach their profession.

At one point, Tom (Ron Varela) expounds on how hit men rarely have ulcers because their work allows them to vent their aggression. It’s such a healthy line of work.

The script does not ultimately have much of a point, beyond satirizing the amorality of contract killers.

However, the script works best as a character study, especially as it develops the character of Jerry (Patrick Heald) from a naive innocent (he becomes ill on seeing his first victim) to a cruel and cold-blooded murderer (he kills one man right out in public just because he thinks it would be amusing).

This production has solid performances from all three actors: Patrick Treadway, Varela and Heald. Varela is icy cold as Tom, and he does a good job of capturing the man’s ghoulish chattiness. He exemplifies the notion that evil has a mundane face.

Heald is much more jumpy as Jerry, especially in a terrific scene in which he can’t get a chain saw started (you can guess what he wants to use it for). Heald screams curses while Tom gives calm advice: Always save the receipt.

Meanwhile, a body awaits dismemberment.

The best performance by far comes from Treadway, who plays every other role in this 80-minute play.

At one moment he is convincing as a nervous victim; another moment, he is utterly hilarious as an Elvis clone; another moment, he is flighty and girlish as Elaine, a talent-booker on a talk show. Any actor who can do a convincing Elvis voice one minute and a convincing Elaine voice the next must have total command of his voice.

Even if you are not completely thrilled by the idea of another low-life mob story, “Tom and Jerry” is worth seeing just to watch Treadway demonstrate his amazing comic versatility.

, DataTimes MEMO: “Tom and Jerry” continues through Oct. 19. Call 927-6878 for performance and ticket information.