THIS SIZE FITS ALL
Opening the 2024/25 season of Geffen Playhouse is The Brothers Size, written by the Geffen’s Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney, performed in the smaller of the Playhouse’s two stages, the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.
Sheaun McKinney, Alani iLongwe
This infinitely adaptable black box space is transformed here in the simplest way. The audience sits in a circle around the stage. We enter to the sound of a rhythmic incantatory musical riff (music designed, composed and performed by Stan Mathabane). The actors onstage are Sheaun McKinney as older brother Ogun Size, Alani iLongwe as Oshoosi Size, and Malcolm Mays as Elegba, both friend and foe to the brothers Size.
Malcolm Mays, Alani iLongwe
The actors speak their stage directions, a technique used by McCraney throughout the play, which, he explained to me in an email, “comes out of the Story Theater tradition, where saying the lines directly to the audience allowed us a chance to connect, to remind us that we are engaging this story with each other. There is no distance between the artist and the audience.”
Sheaun McKinney, Malcolm Mays, Alani iLongwe
For example, we hear:
“Ogun Size stands in the early morning, with a shovel in his hand. He begins his work on the driveway, huh!”
“Oshoosi Size is in his bed sleeping. He stirs, dreaming, a very bad dream, mmm’¦”
“Elegba enters, drifting like the moon, singing a song.”
Then, going around in a ritualized choreography, they chant, they grunt, they declaim. Elegba, carrying a large container, opens it to release a white substance, creating a large circle where the action will unfold.
Sheaun McKinney
Ogun and Oshoosi are brothers in the bayou of La Pere, Louisiana. Ogun owns a car repair shop, Oshoosi’s just back from prison and is on parole. Elegba was his best friend in prison and while Oshoosi still really likes him, Ogun completely distrusts him.
The tension of the play comes from Oshoosi’s desperate need for freedom, Ogun’s over-protectiveness and Elegba’s irresistibly seductive charms. Yoruba mythology and African storytelling underpin this tale of brotherly love, temptation and decision-making.
Sheaun McKinney, Alani iLongwe
Each character reflects an aspect of their namesake Yoruba spirit, a triumvirate traditionally known to work together in journeys of self-discovery. Ogun represents the straight and narrow, the hardness of the metal associated with his spirit name. We feel the push-pull of Ogun looking to put Oshoosi (the hunter/wanderer) on the path to rehabilitation, while Elegba (lord of the crossroads) prefers to buy a ticket back to prison where he can have Oshoosi to himself.
Stan Mathabane
McCraney’s dialogue is rhythmic, repetitive, often set in a call-and-response style, and there’s singing. Oshoosi and Elegba both have beautiful voices; Ogun can’t sing, one of the jokes in the play. There’s a wonderfully light moment where the actors do a Temptations dance together, and the Otis Redding classic “Try a Little Tenderness” takes us to the play’s conclusion.
Sheaun McKinney, Alani iLongwe
The plot isn’t complicated; as a condition of his parole, Ogun wants Oshoosi to get a job and offers him one at his shop. Oshoosi wants a car and Elegba mysteriously gets one for him. When they take it out for a wild ride, they’re busted, but Elegba didn’t tell Oshoosi about the bag of cocaine in the trunk. I wondered if the white circle Elegba draws at the beginning of the play partly represents the cocaine.
Alani iLongwe, Sheaun McKinney
While the plot may not twist and turn, it evokes the power of blood ties and the injustice of the justice system. Throughout the play, Oshoosi is trolled by the local police, and while Elegba is responsible for the cocaine, he won’t admit it, so blame falls on Oshoosi. He runs back to Ogun, who must decide his fate. Will he do what he can to protect his brother? Will he choose forgiveness?
The Brothers Size is one of a trilogy that McCraney calls The Brother/Sister Plays. McCraney himself is an older brother, an aspect of his life that plays into The Brothers Size. It’s the second in the trilogy, written 20 years ago, with many productions across the country and across the pond since then.
Malcolm Mays, Alani iLongwe
This production, directed by Bijan Sheibani, creates a seamless connection between prose and movement, poetry, music and song, with deep emotional resonance. Costumes by Dede Ayite are straightforward but character-reflective, especially Elegba’s wife-beater shirt and gang-banger headcover. Choreography by Juel D. Lane is artfully integrated into this very physical production. Suzu Sakai (scenic designer) and Adam Honoré (lighting designer) create a misty bayou atmosphere, allowing the audience an opportunity to fill in the details with their imagination.
Sheaun McKinney, Alani iLongwe, Malcolm Mays
McCraney walks the walk. He wants to tell stories of people who aren’t always represented onstage and especially, in the audience. He’s created the Theatre as a Lens for Justice initiative – partnering with UCLA’s Center for Justice and ManifestWorks, – which has multiple missions: help build a new audience by providing access to theater productions; space and support for the UCLA Prison Education Program’s Hip Hop Theater course, to create and workshop a new play for the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater; and to create employment pathways into the theater industry for formerly incarcerated individuals, in all aspects of theatre-making.
photos by Jeff Lorch
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
ends on September 8, 2024
for tickets ($45-$129), call 310.208.5454 or visit Geffen Playhouse
Sarah A. Spitz is an award-winning public radio producer, retired from KCRW, where she also produced arts stories for NPR. She writes features and reviews for various print and online publications.
