Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
4 stars
From Cain and Abel onwards, blood ties, sibling rivalry and the tensions between both are as embedded in dramatic DNA as much as in real life. Only five minutes out of Yale, and young American writer Tarell Alvin McCraney has already penned his Brother/Sister Trilogy of plays for New York’s Public Theatre. This UK premiere of his first piece, a co-production by ATC and The Young Vic, reveals McCraney as a dynamic poetic craftsman.
Big brother Ogun runs his auto-repair shop with a stoic sense of purpose born of being gifted responsibility too soon in life. Kid bro’ Oshooshi is fresh out of the slammer, and buzzes around Ogun with the unfocussed energy of a boy unleashed. When ex cell-mate Elegba comes calling, one Size, it seems, does not fit all.
During the dream sequences of Bijan Sheibani’s first production as incoming artistic director of ATC, red beams of light are projected into the chalk circle, framing the action like a telescopic lens focussed on a moving target. This helps Sheibani tap into the play’s mythological grab-bag, rooted in Nigeria, reimagined in Louisiana but looking, on Patrick Burnier’s spare chalk-circle set, as Greek as they come. Rolling verbal riffs between actors Nyasha Hatendi, Obi Abili and Nathaniel Martello-White are heightened by having them say their stage directions as Manuel Pinheiro’s live percussion underscores the action.
Sheibani’s production also features the best use of Otis Redding’s seminal version of Try A Little Tenderness since Jim Cartwright’s 1980s grim-up-north play, Road. As then, the song is used as a symbol of shared experience and release in this startling debut from an equally soulful new voice.
The Herald, October 3rd 2008
ends
4 stars
From Cain and Abel onwards, blood ties, sibling rivalry and the tensions between both are as embedded in dramatic DNA as much as in real life. Only five minutes out of Yale, and young American writer Tarell Alvin McCraney has already penned his Brother/Sister Trilogy of plays for New York’s Public Theatre. This UK premiere of his first piece, a co-production by ATC and The Young Vic, reveals McCraney as a dynamic poetic craftsman.
Big brother Ogun runs his auto-repair shop with a stoic sense of purpose born of being gifted responsibility too soon in life. Kid bro’ Oshooshi is fresh out of the slammer, and buzzes around Ogun with the unfocussed energy of a boy unleashed. When ex cell-mate Elegba comes calling, one Size, it seems, does not fit all.
During the dream sequences of Bijan Sheibani’s first production as incoming artistic director of ATC, red beams of light are projected into the chalk circle, framing the action like a telescopic lens focussed on a moving target. This helps Sheibani tap into the play’s mythological grab-bag, rooted in Nigeria, reimagined in Louisiana but looking, on Patrick Burnier’s spare chalk-circle set, as Greek as they come. Rolling verbal riffs between actors Nyasha Hatendi, Obi Abili and Nathaniel Martello-White are heightened by having them say their stage directions as Manuel Pinheiro’s live percussion underscores the action.
Sheibani’s production also features the best use of Otis Redding’s seminal version of Try A Little Tenderness since Jim Cartwright’s 1980s grim-up-north play, Road. As then, the song is used as a symbol of shared experience and release in this startling debut from an equally soulful new voice.
The Herald, October 3rd 2008
ends
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