Murder, rape and mayhem consumed the stage in “Roberto Zucco,” the Stanford Drama Department’s latest production that ran from Nov. 2 to 5. Written by contemporary French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltes and directed by Stanford master’s of fine arts student Ljubi Matic, the show explored alienation in a materialistic, self-interested modern society where people must use others — or be used themselves.

The anti-hero, Roberto Zucco, committed horrific crimes of passion, including killing his parents. The character is based on Roberto Succo, an Italian serial killer who roamed France and Italy in the 1980s and was a “psychotic, compulsive liar,” according to an article published Sept. 25, 2004 by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

But Zucco’s charisma and rejection of the shallow values of those around him rendered him somewhat sympathetic. Although a natural response to his actions may have been horror and the need to dissociate oneself from the intense subject matter, the actors had to set aside their personal values and internalize their characters.

“We had to try not to judge them and to find the truth of what was behind them,” says senior Chris Ryan, who played Roberto Zucco. “It was easy to point the finger or just to say he was crazy. We wanted to try to distance ourselves and to marginalize them, but we couldn’t do that.”

Ryan adds that he and the cast had to convey loss and hopelessness as primary components of their roles.

“You couldn’t judge them and you couldn’t show contempt, but you had to push yourself to get into the mind and body of the character,” Ryan says. “[Zucco] didn’t just want to just wreak havoc. What did he think and feel?”

Costumes, set design, props and lighting helped the actors enter their characters’ worlds. The production design was the most striking technical element, setting the tone of stark desperation. A raised platform across the stage provided ample opportunity for innovative staging and creative use of space.

The high physical demands of the play proved trying for the 15-person cast, according to Ryan.

“Movement, violence and physicality were the most difficult,” he explains. “The biggest challenge was trying to play these high emotions but to do it safely.”

Another difficulty was the fast-paced schedule in which the show was produced. Although the play was selected last spring, the actors had only a month to rehearse.

“We didn’t really feel rushed, but we didn’t ease into it either,” Ryan says.

But working on such a tight schedule and spending several hours a night rehearsing can create close ties between cast members quite quickly. The ability to bond with a diverse group of peers is another benefit of acting in a large ensemble show.

“I got the opportunity to work with over a dozen incredible actors, only a few of whom I had worked with before,” says sophomore Alex Mallory. “It was great to be a part of a mixture of Ram’s Head regulars with StanShakes veterans, dedicated drama majors and English, computer science and chemical engineering majors...I never quite realized that there were other people who love theatre as much as I do, and ‘Roberto Zucco’ has made me a dozen fantastic, theater-crazy friends and companions in future endeavors.”

In addition, the intense subject matter was a welcome acting exercise for other cast members, Mallory says. Because the cast is so large, some characters appeared onstage only briefly as Zucco’s victims.

“The opportunity to die onstage does not come along very often,” Mallory remarks. “My character, the Child, had only 10 lines and appeared for only 10 minutes of the show, and yet played a significant part in illuminating Zucco’s reaction to the world around him.”

“Roberto Zucco” also tested the audience members by challenging assumptions about their community and themselves. The jarring violence — which is at once realistic and artistic — is depicted in startling honesty that does not shy away from the gritty underside of life that one rarely encounters somewhere like Stanford.

“The idea was to speak to the Stanford community,” Ryan comments. “Here it’s such an idyllic, ivory tower. People think that something like ‘Roberto Zucco’ could never happen here. We’re not trying to say that there’s a murderer on the Stanford campus or something, but we’re trying to say that there are passions like this that are in humanity and are possible in everyone,” he adds.