Orphans Review – Alien Hostage Power Game is a bizarre gem | platform

TThe creepy intruder quietly wandering into a house to stir up family drama is not an unfamiliar dramatic trope. The intruder comes into Lyle Kessler’s Philadelphia home initially disguised as a victim, then slowly exerts his dominance until he rules the roost.

The family here consists of two eccentric brothers. Philip (Fred Woodley Evans) is the youngest, most vulnerable and seems to be stuck at home. Cure (Chris Whaley) is a more crude official and petty thief in the outside world.

However, we only see them inside, in designer Sarah Beaton’s front room, and it is the latter brother who drags Harold (Forbes Mason) into their house one night, drunk and carrying valuable bonds in his briefcase, which gives Treat the idea of ​​holding him ransom. So Harold is bound and gagged, only for this Houdini-like “victim” to become the brothers’ absolute father figure and persecutor.

There is a preoccupation with orphans – Harold talks about his childhood trauma of growing up without parents. He talks about the “dead-end kids” around him at his orphanage and seems to have a direct connection to the orphaned siblings before him, whom he cares for in various ways, encouraging Philip to step into the world outside his front door as he tries to forge a cure for a gang criminal.

Harold’s presence is emotional, he messes with the power dynamic between the brothers, and he, like Pinter’s men, is a quietly terrifying presence, with the potential for violence.

It’s cleverly directed by the Millers, building claustrophobia and tension, but the play is stunted by its own setting, staggers into what might be symbolic or surreal territory, and doesn’t go far enough into the relationship between the brothers and Harold.

There are moments of outright intolerance that are also inexplicable. Is this a reflection of the suspicion they feel about the hostile world outside their homeland, in 1980s Philadelphia, or something else? This is a problematic feature of the play that again goes nowhere.

It looks unfinished – a strange Renaissance gem. What ultimately stands out, and takes your breath away, is the performances of the three actors. Despite the strangeness of the scenario, they make you believe in their ability to play with power, their weakness, their pent-up anger and ambition.