Movies, novels and plays are filled with S&M affairs. But what happens when two masochists fall in love? Rajiv Joseph explores that very painful dynamic in his play “Gruesome Playground Injuries.” A diverting revival of this two-hander opened Sunday at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
Doug and Kayleen (Nicholas Braun and Kara Young) first meet cute — and very injured — in the school nurse’s office when they’re both just eight years old. She has a bad stomach ache, he has ridden his bike off the school’s roof. And so it goes for the next 30 years even though they have other girlfriends, other boyfriends. Doug and Kayleen bond over their pain, which is self-inflicted. Hers is very internal, except for the scarring. His is more external, as well as theatrical – the ride off the school roof being only the first example of his injurious derring-do.
Rajiv Joseph holds our interest by featuring what are truly Grand Guignol effects: an eye punctured, a nail driven into a foot, a leg broken, two pink eyes on the verge of turning red. Aside from the scarring, Kaleen likes to throw up a lot. Most new plays today feature at least one scene where an actor simulates vomiting, often with some fake regurgitated food on display. “Gruesome Playground Injuries” may be the first where two characters puke alternately and then compare the results in a bucket. Doug and Kayleen are most alive when they’re touching each other’s sores, gazing at each other’s sickness.
A hallmark of Joseph’s play is that the two actors make several changes in costumes (by Sarah Laux), as well as changes in their injury makeup (by Brian Strumwasser). Without these dialogue-less intervals, the play would be much shorter than its 90 minutes. Not only are Braun and Young wonderful actors, they’re great to look at as they strip. These wardrobe moments also provide a needed respite from the spoken violence under Neil Pepe’s very leisurely paced direction.
Also nice on the eyes is how Japhy Weidman’s lighting pulses off the sleek surfaces of Arnulfo Maldonado’s set. If Mark Rothko had ever painted a room with two hospital beds, it would be this stunning scenic design for “Gruesome Playground Injuries.”
In the first scene, Young delivers the best performance by an adult actor of a child character since Anika Noni Rose played a kid in the original 2003 production of “Caroline, or Change.” Braun isn’t quite as convincing – who would be? – but he’s admirably effective playing a little boy despite this actor being over six feet tall.
Young is a great, showy actor. She doesn’t hide her technique; she makes it part of the show. At first, it appears there’s an imbalance in the sheer energy level of the two performers. But Braun is the slow-burn that ultimately provides just as much heat. In “Succession,” he brings a sly duplicity to his character’s every move. In “Gruesome Playground Injuries,” Braun’s character is far more honest and direct in his machinations, all of which are directed against Doug’s own body. Braun’s blunt delivery of lines provokes a series of delayed reactions from the audience, since it takes a beat or two for the humor to emerge. With Young, it’s immediate.
A cunning feature of Pepe’s direction is this provocative casting. Young is the extrovert here, yet her character’s pain is very internal. Braun is far more introverted, yet his character is the real showoff when it comes to beating himself up. Braun’s very tall, Young’s short. Pepe puts their many unique qualities and features in conflict throughout the production, but he waits until the end to magnify that radical difference in size.
