The Brig

Photo/John Ranard

The Brig is a hard show to recommend, but I'm going to do it anyway. More of an experience, or a modern dance, than pure theater, it is a hyperrealistic (and therefore at times, hyper-tedious) play. It makes its point, like the military, by drilling it into you, one routine at a time, until your only hope is to blindly obey. But the stern discipline of the ensemble (at least 16 large), the firm direction of director Judith Malina, and the deliberate writing of Kenneth H. Brown demand one's attention: this work is grippingly boring and jarringly tight.

[Read on]