Ted Kaczynski Killed People With Bombs

Michelle Carter's new headline play -- to follow up Hillary and Soon-Yi Shop for Ties -- treats Ted Kaczynski's life with a torrent of personal detail and a handful of unusual songs. It also features a sort of muse of destruction (Celia Shuman, in a tight red dress) named Wild Nature, who sings a muted blues vamp at the end of each first-act scene and narrates a series of "explanations" about the Unabomber's life. We learn about the case of hives that kept Kaczynski alienated from human contact for two weeks as a baby. We learn about his early years at Harvard, at Berkeley in the 1960s, and at a dull office where he fell for a woman who rejected him ("Explanation #5 -- Ellen"). Wild Nature admits that none of her explanations quite clarifies why Kaczynski killed people with bombs, but they're compelling enough to kick the legs out from under his own rambling, half-rational manifesto. The second half of the play is too long -- some audience members literally fell sleep -- but the cast is excellent. Anne Darragh does a beautiful job with Kaczynski's brokenhearted mother, and Merle Kessler never loses touch with the killer himself: He traces with unflagging compassion and nervous energy Kaczynski's transformation from a shy, intelligent, resentful boy into a cold adult.