What happens when a young street hustler finds himself alone in a motel room with one of the world’s most notorious serial killers?

That’s the disturbing premise behind Alcohol and Muscle, a psychological thriller opening at Christchurch’s Little Andromeda theatre tonight.

Directed by well-known New Zealand actor Roy Snow, the production imagines a fictional encounter between Jeffrey Dahmer and a young cowboy named Tex in 1970s Houston, Texas.

The play, written by American playwright Bradley Nye, explores the uneasy relationship between two strangers, one of whom the audience already knows is capable of unimaginable violence.

Snow told chrislynchmedia.com the story was entirely fictional, but its psychological tension made it particularly compelling, both as a director and as an actor himself.

“I read the play online, and I thought the interaction, the connection between the two, the sort of power dynamic between the two characters was really interesting, and that dragged me in as an actor.”

While audiences have developed an appetite for true crime documentaries and television dramas, Snow said the production offered something different.

Rather than simply revisiting Dahmer’s crimes, it invites audiences to question his motivations while wondering whether his unsuspecting companion will survive the encounter.

“I think it leans into our sort of morbid fascination with what if, because I think with serial killers we always kind of want to know their motivations.

“We know who Jeffrey Dahmer was… is it going to go pear-shaped now?”

Snow said the playwright had cleverly constructed a story where the outcome remained uncertain until the final moments.

“You kind of want to root for Tex because you’re hoping that he, you know, it’s going to go his way.”

The intimate setting of Little Andromeda adds another dimension to the experience.

Unlike larger theatres, where actors must project their performances across a considerable distance, the Christchurch venue places audiences remarkably close to the action.

Snow said that proximity was ideal for a production built around psychological manipulation and subtle shifts in power.

“You want to feel like the audience is in the room with you.”

Achieving that realism has required considerable discipline from the cast, with Snow encouraging the actors to avoid exaggerated gestures or conventional theatrical performances.

“You’ve sort of got to lean into realism, but the theatricality is sort of, it’s a little bit sneaky because you’ve got to still have it there to get it across to the audience.”

For Snow, the challenge is creating an experience that feels less like watching a play and more like witnessing a deeply unsettling encounter.

And although the subject matter is dark, Snow hasn’t lost his sense of humour.

He admitted the promotional side of the job had been the hardest part.

“I’ve done a few Facebook posts and sort of social media, which I have to say terrifies me more than Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Describing himself as someone for whom social media feels like “carving stone tablets”, Snow said his anxiety levels rise considerably whenever he has to promote the production.

But he hopes Christchurch audiences will embrace the opportunity to experience something unusual.

“I won’t say it’s a raucous comedy, but it’s a compelling night of theatre.”

Alcohol and Muscle opens at Little Andromeda tonight, Thursday 8 October, and runs for three nights only.

Tickets are available through the Little Andromeda website or at the door, subject to availability.