And sho’nuff, it’s a stone cold classic. This production premiered at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow last year and whilst it may have taken a while to transfer to London, we should be grateful indeed that it has for Phillip Breen marshals some extraordinary stage work by Eugene O’Hare and Alex Ferns as a pair of dichotomous brothers who represent the split in America itself. The well-put-together Austin is a family man who is an aspiring screenwriter on the cusp of a breakthrough deal in Hollywood, whilst Lee is an altogether more primal spirit, a drifter and a petty thief more at home in the Mojave Desert. When they meet for the first time in five years whilst house-sitting for their ma, sparks inevitably fly.
The way they fly is predictable at first, the slide back into childhood rhythms comes easily, the bullying Lee has a bruising physicality in Ferns’ quick-tempered older brother and there’s a squealing predictability to the way in which O’Hare’s younger sibling quickly acquiesces when the going gets tough. But as tables are turned and surprises unleashed, a whole world of chaos is unleashed in this SoCal suburb which is breath-taking in its tension. Breen captures this unravelling with pinpoint precision, even in the throes of the toast-based madness (has to be seen to be believed, don’t go to this play hungry!) Lee’s chilling stare and Austin’s masterful way with words remind of the cold intensity at the heart of their struggle.