My Brother's Keeper
New York theater-goers are enjoying an abundance of riches at the present moment. No, I'm not talking about the over-blown, stunt-cast tourist fare found on Broadway. I'm talking about the more thought-provoking, literate and risk-taking productions being staged off Broadway and in particular the arrival of exciting new playwrights demanding to be heard.
Opening this week at the Public Theater is such an example. The Brothers Size is a compelling, lyrical one-act play that uses a contemporary style and ceremonial presentation to tell the story of two brothers and the friend whose presence threatens to tear them apart.
Like Hoodoo Love, reviewed here last week, this project is the brainchild of a new writing talent, Tarell Alvin McCraney, a May 2007 (yes, just six months ago) MFA graduate of the Yale School of Drama. The Brothers Size was performed at The Public last year as part of the UNDER THE RADAR festival, after getting on the radar screen of some of the theater community's current movers and shakers.
McCraney draws from West African culture and mythology in naming his characters after Yoruba religious figures. Ogun (Gilbert Owuor), is the god of war and iron and here a hard working auto mechanic and older brother to, Oshoosi, the deity of the wanderer and hunter. This Oshoosi (Brian Tyree Henry), is a recently released ex-convict and friend of Elegba (Elliot Villar), the shape-shifting trickster, who was his prison cellmate. The story is set in San Pere, Louisiana near the Bayou, in the "distant present."
Using a minimalist set in the black box space of The Public's Shiva theater, and an off stage drummer to provide musical accompaniment and sound effects, the actors play in and out of a chalk circle drawn on the floor. Who stands inside or out, illustrates the relationships between the characters.
Ogun is trying to help his brother stay on the straight and narrow, by getting him a job at his garage. He has grown frustrated by his brother's lack of direction and the sacrifices he made to help raise him. Oshoosi is less driven, wanting only the use of a car so he can seek out the pleasures of the flesh he's lived without while in prison.
As Elegba, Villar plays with a just-below-the-surface sense of danger that makes you suspicious of every word he utters. While Oshoosi has made it clear to his brother he has no desire to go back to jail--in an emotional challenge between the two--it becomes increasingly apparent that Elegba has had a hard time leaving the penitentiary behind. The counterweight he provides to Ogun's influence compels Oshoosi to face the choices he has made in life.
If there is one drawback to this play it is that it is a tad predictable. With just three characters it is easy to see how the story will play out. But that doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the various performances. Owuor is an earnest Ogun who has accepted his own place in life while maintaining his dignity. Henry has the juiciest role, allowed to be the free spirit, the beset-upon younger brother and the unknowing co-conspirator all at once and he does so with an arresting stage presence, charisma and sensitivity. McCraney, director Tea Alagic and the three actors, developed and worked on this play together over the past two years and their comfort level with the material and each other is evident.
This play has the unique distinction of a simultaneous staging on both sides of the pond. It runs through Dec. 23 here in New York and November 8 to December 8 at London's Young Vic theater. Future productions are set for Dublin's Abbey Theatre and Washington, D.C.'s Studio Theatre.
The Brothers Size at The Public Theater LINK
The Brothers Size at The Young Vic LINK
The Brothers Size at The Studio Theatre LINK
Posted by bernie at November 7, 2007 1:14 AM