The Brothers Size

Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
The Fountain Theatre
Through Sept. 14

Photo by Ed Krieger

RECOMMENDED:

This is the second installment of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Brother/Sister Plays, and a splendid follow-up to the first in that series, In the Red and Brown Water,” which played at this same theater to much acclaim last year. McCraney is as much a poet as he is a playwright, and this is notably apparent in this tale of Ogun (Gilbert Glenn Brown) and Oshoosi (Matthew Hancock), siblings of jarring contrast.

Ogun is the successful owner of a Louisiana Bayou auto shop, a gruff spoken taskmaster caring for his recently paroled younger brother. Oshoosi, something of a slacker, is animated with youthful braggadocio and a surprising naiveté about the darkness of the world. While in prison, he became enamored of a photo of Madagascar, and dreams of buying a car and of faraway, idyllic places. Their lives are forever changed by the appearance of Elegba (played with cunning seductiveness by Theo Perkins), a convict acquaintance of Oshoosi, who delights in sowing the seeds of discontent between the brothers, even as he slyly attempts to ingratiate himself into their lives.

Freedom, sought or unsought, is the motif here, as well as the enduring, mystifying bonds of love. This is a play of ritual dance and song, of moods both disheartening and uplifting, of light and shadows (all of which is embellished by Pablo Santiago’s sage lighting schema), splendidly underscored by McCraney’s rich imagery and monologues. There is a commanding chemistry and physical interaction among these actors (Ameenah Kaplan’s choreography is studied and precise), who turn in deeply moving performances under the Shirley Jo Finney’s superb direction.

The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through Sept. 14. (323) 663-1525, FountainTheatre.com