American writer Tracy Letts is best known for his Pulitzer-Prize winning play August: Osage County that was staged at the National Theatre in 2008. His work is usually about people struggling with moral and spiritual questions but with Bug he has produced a psychological thriller based on paranoia and mind bending.
It is not a cosy play but it is an extraordinary one that journeys from a woman and a man’s first meeting to a violent and bloody climax. If you are squeamish – beware!
All the action takes place in a seedy motel room where lonely Agnes lives, hiding from her violent ex-con ex-husband. One night she is introduced to Peter, a Gulf War veteran who, as their friendship develops, grows increasingly paranoid about the war in Iraq, cult suicides and secret government experiments on soldiers — eventually drawing Agnes into his delusions and her subsequent descent into insanity.
Bug in the title not only refers to the insect type but also to those used to eavesdrop and to controlling micro-chips in the body.
Strong direction ensures that the production grips throughout, as do the excellent cast. Although there are three subsidiary characters – all well played - the play is really a two-hander. As Agnes, Melody Roche is superb as she moves from the rational into brain-washed lunacy. Equally impressive is Charlie Allen as the deranged Peter. Right from his first entrance you sense a disquieting air behind his polite, awkward demeanor and it’s not long before you’re proved right.
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