SIZING UP THE BROTHERS SIZE
IS JUST PART OF ITS APPEAL
When I first saw a play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, I wrote, “It is thrilling to hear the poetic dialogue of a propitious new American playwright for the first time; one who uses a unique, innovative and visionary arrangement of words that not only awaken your senses, but heighten your hopes that the profligate use of technological blather will not drown out a voice which is at once rich, challenging and distinctive.”
That was 2010. Now, McCraney has won an Academy Award for Moonlight and is Artistic Director of Geffen Playhouse, where his play The Brothers Size will run August 4 to September 8, 2024, An atmosphere of mythic mystery suffuses McCraney’s compelling drama about family, sacrifice, and deceit. Awash with undercurrents of melancholy and rage, here’s a drama that manages to wrestle both powerful themes and ferocious emotions, even within a remarkably intimate context.
Tarell Alvin McCraney, Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director
and playwright, The Brothers Size (Jeff Lorch)
Of the three plays which constitute Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “The Brother/Sister Plays,” The Brothers Size is the most intimate and confined, much like a chamber piece. The first play of the triptych, In the Red and Brown Water, is an epic tale about the flowering of a young woman named Oya; the third, Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet, explores the budding sexuality of a teenager in the fictional projects of San Pere. The Brothers Size concentrates on the relationship of the titular siblings, Ogun and Oshoosi, and contains sizzling scenes that depict the love and torment inherent in a sibling relationship. The play contains visceral and explosive scenes of poetic majesty and, as in his other plays, actors speaking stage directions is a successful way of bringing us into the story. This production is led by inventive director Bijan Sheibani.
Bijan Sheibani, director, The Brothers Size (Manuel Harlan)
In a backwater town somewhere in the Louisiana bayou, poor and embittered auto mechanic Ogun takes in his fresh-out-of-prison younger brother Oshoosi and gives him a job at his auto repair shop. However, Oshoosi’s former cellmate, the sweet-seeming but obviously insincere Elegba (also newly sprung from prison), tempts Oshoosi to continue his wayward behavior that got him into trouble in the first place. Oshoosi is torn between the allure of the trickster Elegba and the purer motives of his brother. Ogun is torn between saving his brother and letting him find his own way. The tug-of-war between the three takes on mythological aspects, including destiny, ego and temptation.
Malcom Mays, actor, The Brothers Size (Ally Green)
McCraney’s writing reduces situations to a skeletal essence – and the underlying emotions burst out with explosive shock and clatter. It is sometimes unclear whether we’re watching characters, symbolic representation of characters, or metaphors for emotions. By the show’s end, though, it turns out that the answer is unimportant: Sometimes ambiguity is just the way it is – we are not expected to understand everything in the world.
Alani iLongwe, actor, The Brothers Size (Luana Fitzgerald)
Some of the answers to the play’s sometimes heightened reality can be found in African myth, in which these three “characters” (or, rather, characters with the same names) are frequent figures. It is to McCraney’s credit that the play is affecting both as a work of folklore and as a gritty commentary on the role of African Americans in contemporary American society.
Sheaun McKinney, actor, The Brothers Size (Jeff Lorch)
CAST
Alani iLongwe as Oshoosi Size
Malcolm Mays as Elegba
Sheaun McKinney as Ogun Size
PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Designer Suzu Sakai
Costume Designer Dede Ayite
Lighting Designer Adam Honoré
Sound Designer, Composer & Musician Stan Mathabane
Choreographer Juel D. Lane
Associate Director Tyrone Davis
Dramaturg Lindsay A. Jenkins
Production Stage Manager Sam Allen
Casting Director Phyllis Schuringa, CSA
The Brothers Size
Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater
Geffen Playhouse, 10866 Le Conte Avenue in Westwood
Wed-Fri at 8; Sat at 3 & 8; Sun at 2 & 7
August 4 to September 8, 2024 (opening night August 22, 2024)
for tickets ($45-$129), call 310.208.5454 or visit Geffen Playhouse