THE HANGOVER REPORT – In the quirky new dark comedy WET BRAIN, John J. Caswell, Jr. pungently depicts a family woefully riddled with addiction

Julio Monge, Arturo Luís Soria, Frankie J. Alvarez, and Ceci Fernández in Playwrights Horizons and MCC Theater’s co-production of “Wet Brain” by John J. Caswell, Jr. (photo by Michelle V. Agins).

Earlier this week, John J. Caswell, Jr.’s Wet Brain opened at Playwrights Horizons (the production is being co-produced by MCC Theater). In the same vein as Caswell’s earlier play Man Cave (which played last year at The Connelly Theater in a production courtesy of Page 73), the playwright’s superior new work takes a quirky, darkly comic view of its subjects, in this case a Latin American family woefully riddled with addiction and emotional affliction.

In his play, Caswell creates an unpredictable and pungent atmosphere that drew me in as much as it disconcerted me. Indeed, Wet Brain is a topsy-turvy, genre-busting work that kept me off-balance over the course of its 90 minutes. In a hallucinatory, pseudo-dreamlike series of scenes, the playwright treats dysfunction as if it were the norm – indeed, there’s nary a moral compass in sight. Suffice to say, the less said about the play’s unfolding events, the better. Throughout, both the playwright’s writing and Dustin Wills’ shrewd direction are spontaneous and suggestive, often times leaving audiences scratching their heads but tantalized nonetheless. If you can get through the play’s depictions of intense turmoil, you’ll be ultimately rewarded with a glimpse of genuine redemption that makes all the trauma leading up to it worth it.

Like Grey House on Broadway, Wet Brain features a sensational domestic set that all but becomes a character in its own right. In this haunted house of sorts (kudos to scenic designer Kate Roll and lighting designer Cha See, as well as sound designers Tei Blow and John Gasper), the walls palpably have ears. In terms of the performances, each actor wonderfully puts their distinct, forceful stamp on their respective character. Particularly compelling is Arturo Luís Soria in the central role of the family’s confounded, intentionally disconnected gay son.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

WET BRAIN
Off-Broadway, Play
Playwrights Horizons / MCC Theater
1 hour, 35 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 25

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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