←Recommendations of Erstwhile (or An Assassins Erstwhile Poem)

Here Love sets two poetic events in direct opposition to one another, as an assassin composes a literary work before delivering death. This elegant monologue is steeped in ambiguity, with lots of room for a performer to play on stage. An audience will be as enraptured as we readers.

The perfect shot ... the perfect word. The timing. Too many syllables? Two minutes until the shot. Can you see what you're writing up close? Is she standing too close? The momentum builds. The clock ticks. And the combination of creating and obliterating "hits" home. A moving and utterly theatrical piece that mesmerizes.

03/31/2026 - I love the juxtaposition that Ken Love uses to tell this slick and engrossing tale. An assassin getting ready to kill, getting ready to destroy, as he works to create a poem. He works really hard to create something truly beautiful and Ken has succeeded in this Erstwhile inspired piece. Would love to see performed. Great work as always!

I really like how this character balances taking lives with bringing new art into the world. It’s an interesting contrast—ink on a page and a bullet in a chamber. Art and an assassin’s work: both inevitable, both impactful.

Ken Love's ERSTWHILE play is a tense murderous scene that we approach like an IED - We see it coming, heading directly for it - the main character is an assassin after all -- but we cannot look away. The explosion awaits. Love makes the craft seem simple as he juxtaposes life and death. We Humanity vs. life - And we wonder where we fit in and what could be done if only.

Ken Love uses play structure like a flamethrower! Usually. Here, he opts for quiet elegance. Something bad is about to happen. But it's going to happen on schedule, so our titular assassin has time to fill before it's time to kill. So why not write a poem? Hitmen are often portrayed as one-dimensional brutes or quirky comic relief. In this meta-poem, Love gives his contract killer a complicated soul, filled with aspiration, doubt, reflection, and humanity. It's a riveting buildup to deadly business.

My favorite thing about this short piece is that we, the audience, are reading/hearing the protagonist's thoughts. The convention of the stage requires that an actor say these thoughts aloud, but the connective tissue of these words isn't conversational, it's the quick-twitch of the mind. Very interesting work, and great fun to ponder.

The tension that builds in this short monologue, seemingly assuaged by the assassin composing poetry as he stakes out his position, is palpable. Is it so implausible that someone could be thinking of committing murder as they create something of beauty? Not in the capable hands of Ken Love, and the best part is that it seems natural for the gunman to do this to steady his hand and dedicate himself to the job. Hauntingly good.

Ken Love’s Erstwhile (or An Assassin’s Erstwhile Poem) is a taut, haunting monologue that places a lone assassin in the quiet moments before an irreversible act. As he struggles to compose a poem while preparing a rifle, language and violence intertwine, revealing a mind caught between reflection and duty. Spare, tense, and darkly ironic, the piece offers actors a riveting character study and showcases Love’s consistent brilliance in crafting unsettling theatrical moments.

This tense monologue features a tense ticking clock as this artsy assassin pens a poem - a stark reminder that every man who has ever killed was once a child, and could have been a poet. This would be a fascinating character to get to play and know from the inside, as the complexity is present, but lives so firmly in the negative space. Directors will have a field day deciding when to encourage silence and when to fill the air. This play invites you to wonder what happens after 'end of play!'