Stefania LaVie Owen and Lucas Hedges
Photo by Joan Marcus
Left to fend for themselves in a squalid suburban London housing
project by their diabetic, drugs and alcohol-addicted
mother, two teenage half brothers spend their days watching sadistic porno and
playing violent video games on the TV. Hench (Lucas Hedges) and Bobbie (Justice
Smith) have in their care a dog named Taliban (unseen) that, shall we say gets no
care and remains locked in a room. They evidently do know how to care for their
mother Maggie (Ari Graynor) when she pops in sporadically to steal something in
the apartment to sell. She apparently lives elsewhere with the current boyfriend.
At the beginning of London-based playwright Anna Jordan’s depressing
but grimly grounded play, she arrives in time to have a hissy fit over something
or everything and go into a seizure-induced coma. One can suspect there is some
affection that exists and is exhibited in rare moments between the boys and
their mother. But their volatile relationship is typically expressed through their
vulgar vernacular and aggressively rough and tumble behavior.
A mostly sullen Hench has his hands full controlling the hyperactive
Bobbie. It seems that Bobbie is afflicted with a number of overlapping behavioral
and emotional disorders too numerous to enumerate, except that they are likely
to be the cause of the psoriasis that is visible when he removes the single T-shirt
that is shared by them. An unexpected visit by an extraordinarily sweet and
generous teenage girl Jennifer (Stefania LaVie Owen) who wants to help them care
for the dog adds a touch of complexity to this uncompromisingly dour drama. Not
unexpectedly is Jennifer, who calls herself Yen, physically attracted to Hench.What next?
All the actors, under the direction of Trip Cullman, are terrific.
If the talented good-looking Hedges, who has received laudatory reviews as the
troubled son in the acclaimed film “Manchester by the Sea” appears to be all
skin and bones, he, nevertheless, brings a meaty dimension to his role. He perfectly
channels and embodies Hench’s despairing reality. An impressive Smith flings himself
into rages and rampages that leave both him and us shattered. There is nothing
like going ballistic and/or berserk for a good actor and Graynor nails it. As
Jennifer, Ms. Owen, brings a breath of freshness into a play that is purposely
steeped in a rancid reality. Mark Wendland’s setting and Ben Stanton’s lighting
expertly addresses a sad world without prospects or wonder.
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