Theater Reviews

Jan 17, 2010 - It's the creepy crawleys at Reno's Bruka Theatre for a slam-dunk rendering of Tracy Letts's play,

By Jack Neal

We’re not talking about Bugs Bunny when we refer to the new offering at Reno’s Bruka Theatre. Far from it. Playwright Tracy Letts has added yet another notch in his macabre approach to theater. His earlier play, “Killer Joe,” was a seedy affair set in the lower depths of society. This time it’s “Bug,” set in a seedy motel room on the outskirts of Oklahoma City.

Part sci-fi, part comedy, mostly thriller, “Bug” just can’t help get under one’s skin. The play is about losers, and – poor things – losers make us want to scratch.

Agnes White (Linda Noveroske) is a boozer who’s lost her kid and wants to lose her husband. Jerry Goss (Eric Patrilla) is the brutal husband Agnes wants to lose, but he keeps coming back like a bad song. R.C. is Agnes’s lesbian friend who brings the mentally challenged Peter Evans (Scott Reeves) into Agnes’s motel room for a night of snorting cocaine. Dr. Sweet (Bob Grimm) is the doctor come lately who turns out to be the ultimate loser.

It’s what happens when Agnes’s ex-husband, Jerry, looks her up after being let out of prison that ignites the action. To make matters more complicated Jerry’s release from prison comes after Agnes has hooked up with Peter, the handsome cool stranger who becomes Agnes’s protector. It’s on these premises that Letts builds a thriller with a sci-fi twist.

Director Dave Richards establishes mayhem off the top with a tension building opening of Agnes standing in her doorway smoking. She’s silhouetted against the prevailing darkness of her life. To make matters more tentative all that can be heard are cars whizzing by (the excellent sound design is by Tess Falcone) just steps from Agnes’s doorstep. It’s all very menacing.

Then, what could be more comic than having an intruder in for a night of love making turn out to be a bedbug? It’s not just the people, it’s one bug after another that turns Agnes’s motel room is one giant roach motel. As Peter becomes more obsessed with bugs the motel room fills with sprays, fly traps and a child’s microscope and chemistry set. It’s set designer Lewis Zaumeyer’s set that sets one to itching and wondering about how things are back in one’s own bedroom. The play’s paranoia is catching. Letts has been quoted as seeing characters such as Peter as the unhealthy manifestations of healthy paranoia about powerful institutions.

Fretful, brutalized and needy, Linda Noveroske is a superb Agnes. Distant, loving and explosive Scott Reeves is a compelling, excellent Peter. Sensitive and caring Jamie Plunkett is a terrific R.C. Frightening, powerful and amoral, Eric Patrilla brings enough menace to the stage to last a lifetime. Calculating to a fault, Bob Grimm is just right for the play’s grand exit and final curtain. This is a strong, assured cast.

“Bug” is another of the exceptionally presented plays at Bruka Theatre. It’s not an easy play, so beware. It’s also has many moments of full nudity all appropriately lit by Bruka’s exceptional lighting designer Dave Simpson.

“Bug” can be seen at the Bruka Theatre, 99 North Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, January 14 (the media performance reviewed) 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 at 8 p.m. and January 24 at p.m. The play’s running time is two hours, twenty minutes. For information call 775-323-3221.