"It's the play's only location though it appears in a distinctive second guise in the second act and in its staging at the Samuel J Friedman Theatre, the set comes to a corner in the center of the stage, jutting out toward the audience. The additional angle gives the room a little more depth, but it also distorts the room's geography, rendering it neither proscenium neat nor fully realistic."
"Agnes is a waitress living out of the motel, drinking and taking drugs in between shifts. Her abusive ex, Jerry (Steve Key), just out of prison, lurks around, expecting Agnes to welcome him back to their home whenever he pleases. So when her friend RC (Jennifer Engstrom) introduces Agnes to the drifter and supposed veteran Peter, he can't help but seem gentler by comparison."
"This play by Tracy Letts Coon's spouse in real life was initially produced in 1996 in London; revised for American shows in the early 2000s, including a year Off Broadway; and adapted into a 2006 feature film starring Michael Shannon as Peter (who originated the role in London and reprised it in several subsequent productions) and Ashley Judd as Agnes."
The play centers on Agnes, a motel-based waitress who drinks and uses drugs between shifts while her recently released, abusive ex, Jerry, expects to reclaim their home. Agnes forms a fragile attachment to Peter, a drifter and supposed military veteran, whose discovery of a suspected bug bite triggers intense paranoia. Both characters spiral into delusion, propelled by trauma, substance use, love, and grief over a lost child. The single-set motel room at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre juts into the audience and tilts the stage geography, producing an unsettling mix of depth and distorted realism. Originally written in 1996 and revised for American shows, Bug was adapted into a 2006 film starring Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd; its 2025 Broadway staging remains concise and compelling while raising questions about contemporary relevance.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]