Joe Cooper, a police detective who moonlights as a contract killer, is well aware of the power he exercises on all fronts: the badge, the gun, the blackmail and the sexual command of 20-year-old Dottie, whom the Smith family have pimped out to him as a “retainer” until the insurance money comes through after his hit on Ansel Smith’s ex-wife. Killer Joe exudes the chilling control of one of those characters who suddenly arrive and take over in a Harold Pinter play, except that the Smiths are Texans who are beyond Sam Shepardesque trailer trash and well into trailer landfill.

Joe doesn’t quite strut, but he damn near preens, and every time he stops moving he doesn’t so much stand as strike a stance. It’s as if actor Orlando Bloom is discreetly taking the mickey out of his status as cinematic eye-candy in the Tolkien and Pirates Of The Caribbean franchises. In Simon Evans’ revival of Tracy Letts’ 1993 début play, it works potently. Frankly Bloom has never had that much asked of him on screen, and to date has not made enough stage appearances (one each in the West End and on Broadway prior to this) for a reliable assessment of his chops as an actor. But the indications are that, given the chance, he’s impressive.

Twenty-five years ago it was possible for a man to write a scene in which Dottie strips and changes clothes to order, and another in which her stepmother is forced to mock-fellate a chicken drumstick, without interrogating the underlying menace in these moments. The young Letts didn’t avoid such reflection, though, and those scenes are neither gratuitous nor counter-effective in Evans’ revival. The twists and perversions of family ties and southern-states Christianity are presented without comment for us to consider for ourselves. Steffan Rhodri and Adam Gillen also impress as Ansel Smith and son Chris, and Sophie Cookson finds a full character in Dottie instead of allowing her to waft through as a holy fool. Well worth seeing if you can get a ticket in the front eight or so rows of the vertiginous, alienating Trafalgar 1 space.

Written for the Financial Times.