Bug
Bug By Tracy Letts
Directed by Karen Casteel
Starring Leesa Castaneda and Paxton McCaghren
Queen’s Head Theatre, Winter Park, FL</strong>
Cocaine and conspiracy theories are two hobbies that don’t lead anywhere healthy. The most stable person on this stage is Agnes (Castaneda). Waitress, drunk and coke head, she’s living in the Camouflage Motel dreading the parole of her violent ex-husband Jerry Goss (Jay Glass). When her gratuitously lesbian friend R.C. (Melina Smart) drops by on the way to a party, Agnes inherits mysterious and crazy Pete (McCaghren). He only smokes rock cocaine; that powdered stuff is bad for you. It might even have cocaine bugs in it – you know: the kind the CIA spreads trying to kill off the user population even as they try hard themselves. You have to dig out the egg sacs from under your skin and inside your fillings, and we learn how to do this useful skill. Jerry drops by every so often to beat Agnes and threaten Pete, but when he introduces the possibly non-existent Dr. Sweet (Samuel Lourcey) you know that somewhere a line has been crossed and there’s only one path forward – burn the place down.
It’s a gritty and paranoid delusion on stage; what was once a vice is now a habit and soon will be an end unto itself. There’s plenty of adult matter here far beyond Ms. Castaneda’s underwear, and you always know something bad will happen but exactly what and how is missing. Castaneda feels desperate, McCaghren slides slowly down the incline until his momentum of doom takes everyone with him. Glass is interesting – you keep expecting him to pummel somebody but despite his brutality he can achieve goals by nudging and cajoling. Ms. Smart needs more to do; while she’s done a better job of balancing her life between bouncing and dealing she still toots a line and remarks on Agnes’s drinking problem. When we get to the mysterious Dr. Sweet we no longer know if anything on stage is real; he might be an illusion trapped inside the elaborate tin foil safety shield. The foil keeps out radio waves, but traps them just as well.
Like all Letts’ material there isn’t much redemption, just a slow crescendo that peaks with a small Armageddon. The sleazy hotel room looked good with its camo curtains and pretentious 1970’s bed; I can’t imagine how the carpet must smell close up. You might look for a moral, but all you see are people who really did spiral down the sink on coke. This show will make you wince, grimace and maybe turn your head, but it won’t let you go.
For more information on the Queen’s Head Theatre, please visit www.queensheadtheatre.com
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