'Orphans' offers mesmerizing look into lives of two young brothers

Wichita Center for the Arts’ riveting in-the-round production of Lyle Kessler’s tragicomedy “Orphans” puts you, if not exactly in the middle of the action, right on the cutting edge of it.

It’s like visiting in a home where a fight breaks out. You don’t want to watch, but you can’t stop. As tautly directed by Shaun-Michael Morse with fights staged by Danette Baker, it’s a completely visceral, up-close-and-personal experience that’s unnerving, somewhat voyeuristic and even a little terrifying when a gun and a knife crop up.

It’s not for everyone because of fierce but appropriate language and adult themes, but it is unforgettable.

Kessler’s award-winning drama (fresh from Broadway where it just won the Tony for best revival) deals with two young brothers who were abandoned by their father after their mother died, leaving them to fend for themselves in a decaying old row house in Philadelphia by surviving off the spoils of petty crimes.

Treat, now in his early 20s, has assumed responsibility for raising the teenage Phillip, his naive, unschooled, perhaps mentally challenged sibling.

When one of Treat’s schemes to kidnap and hold for ransom a well-dressed drunk with a briefcase full of stock certificates goes hilariously wrong, the “victim,” a Chicago hood named Harold, turns the tables and becomes sort of the father figure they never had.

Damian Padilla as Treat is a charming, but scary guy who is running on pent-up rage. He’s angry that his mother deserted them by dying. He pokes others but hates to be touched himself, displaying the constant, wary body language of a child who may have been abused.

He has built up a tough armor that refuses to let anything or anyone in to keep from being further hurt. And he keeps his brother safe by making him fear the outside world, turning him into a pet – or a prisoner – in their home.

Padilla subtly conveys that inner turmoil when, despite his steely gaze and menacing manners, his face occasionally flashes a haunting little-lost-boy look when something doesn’t go as planned. Padilla gradually and poignantly reveals the fragile soul beneath the scars, one who is afraid to love because he doubts he’s worthy of it.

Sean Gestl as younger brother Phillip is a playful wild child who leaps like a monkey from sofa to coffee table to bay window seat, using the dilapidated living room as his playground – complete with a blanket-covered fort from which he peers out to watch reruns of “The Price is Right.”

Gestl walks the fine line between innocent, childlike wonder and the mentally challenged, avoiding cliches that might be offensive.

He is fascinated by ordinary items like his dead mother’s shoe out of curiosity. He underlines interesting words in newspapers and books and yearns to understand them, but is afraid to ask. He watches the world going by outside his window, but because of his brother’s warning, is afraid to take part. He is a sprout languishing in the shadows, and Gestl, whose face is a vivid canvas of confusing, conflicting emotions, makes you want to give him a big hug to make things better.

And David Allen Bailey is a gentle-voiced but insistent authority figure as Harold, a clever, self-taught conman who has a soft spot for throw-away children because he was one himself. After realizing who his dumb young kidnappers really are, he sets out to civilize them and, perhaps, to save them. Bailey plays Harold like a patient, knowing, often forgiving favorite uncle, but one with a hint of danger if he’s challenged too much.

The set by John Hammer with soft, evocative lighting by Sean Roberson and props by John Boldenow is sturdy, efficient and detailed. Audiences enter through the row house’s front door, detailed on both sides and flanked by pots of long-neglected, dead flowers. We sit on opposite sides of the living room, where a pre-show of sorts is already underway as house-bound Phillip is watching TV, waiting for his brother to come home and ignoring us while we arrive. When Treat pops in the front door, the show is – literally and very effectively – off and running.

This story was originally published September 20, 2014 at 5:24 PM with the headline "'Orphans' offers mesmerizing look into lives of two young brothers."