The Return of Tarell Alvin McCraney's Masterpiece, "The Brothers Size"

"At the beginning of Tarell Alvin McCraney's poetic drama "The Brothers Size," now at the Shed, one of the play's three actors pours white sand-or is it salt?-in a circle on the otherwise empty stage. This ceremonial ring becomes an in-the-round playing area, and, as the performers enter and exit it, their feet scuff the particles, sending dust up to drift in the light."

"The heat is stultifying, and Oshoosi, still on probation, is "just trying to live easy"-but Ogun wants his brother up early, working in Ogun's car shop, pulling his weight, avoiding the law. A third man, the alluring Elegba (Malcolm Mays), makes their two-body system even more unstable. Oshoosi dearly needed Elegba's friendship in prison, but, outside it, he seems a bit too dangerous, a bit too knowing."

A ceremonial ring of white sand is poured on an otherwise empty stage to create an in-the-round playing area where performers scuff particles that drift in the light. Two brothers inhabit a shared Louisiana home: irrepressible Oshoosi Size, newly released from prison and on probation, and his strict older brother Ogun Size, who pushes him to work in a car shop and avoid the law. A third man, the alluring Elegba, destabilizes their relationship; Elegba is a magnetic former friend from prison whose presence alternately attracts and endangers Oshoosi. The characters evoke Yoruba orishas and interweave narration, dance and live drumming into ritualized storytelling.

Read at The New Yorker