Bottom line: "Bug" is a riveting thriller of paranoia and an instant guilty pleasure.
Barrow Street Theatre, New York Runs indefinitely
Playwright Tracy Letts' "Killer Joe," seen off-Broadway a few years back, was a ripping Gothic thriller that promised the arrival of a significant playwriting talent. This, his second play to be seen in New York, only confirms it.
Although it degenerates into a wildly baroque and over-the-top conclusion, "Bug" is a riveting thriller of paranoia and an instant guilty pleasure.
Set in a seedy Oklahoma motel room (reproduced in tacky splendor by set designer Lauren Helpern), the play revolves around the ill-fated meeting between Agnes (Shannon Cochran), a down-on-her-luck waitress, and Peter (Michael Shannon), a mysterious stranger introduced to her by her lesbian friend R.C. (Amy Landecker). Agnes is hanging out in the hotel to avoid her violent ex-husband, Jerry (Michael Cullen), who has just been released from prison. She allows Peter, a soft-spoken military veteran with an oddly recessive personality, to camp out on her floor, and it isn't long before the two become lovers.
This doesn't sit well with Jerry, who has reappeared expecting to resume their relationship. But that turns out to be the least of Agnes' problems since her room soon appears to become infested with bugs, which the increasingly disturbed Peter claims are the result of experiments conducted on him by the military. By the time the mysterious Dr. Sweet (Reed Birney) arrives offering to help, things have taken a turn toward the seriously deranged.
While the plotting edges toward the preposterous, the playwright's gift for sharp-edged dialogue, evocative atmosphere and incisive characterizations keeps us tightly drawn in. At once a compelling thriller and sometimes riotously funny black comedy, "Bug" also manages to be a moving portrait of two lost souls finding salvation, eventually the darkest kind, in each other.
Adding greatly to the evening's power is Dexter Bullard's high-pitched production, featuring sterling performances by the entire cast. Particularly terrific are Cochran, beautifully and sexily conveying Agnes' mixture of toughness and vulnerability, and Shannon, whose subtle portrayal of the enigmatic Peter keeps us guessing right up to the very end.
REVIEWS going back to spring 1991 are available to our online-service subscribers via our archives. Not a subscriber? Click here to learn about the benefits of our premium service.
