"Orphans' on Broadway: The Boston Marathon link

What if you and your older brother dwelt alone in a derelict row house in North Philadelphia, with no hope for the future? What if you lived hand-to-mouth? What if you were too afraid to go outside? What if you'd die without your older brother to take care of you— even though a) he's not a particularly nice fellow and b) you're not sure quite how he's bringing home the bacon?

Then suppose that, out of the blue, a stranger appears: a man who promises to change your miserable life forever. Wouldn't you be inclined to let him?

That's the question confronting Philip in Orphans, Lyle Kessler's explosive absurdist drama now being revived on Broadway, with an all-star cast that includes Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster, and Tom Sturridge (who is giving the runaway performance of this Broadway season).

Unkempt, unschooled, untouched

Mind you, Treat (Foster) and Philip (Sturridge) aren't exactly Peter Pan's lost boys. They're 20-something, and have lived like Romulus and Remus for years, abandoned by their parents too long ago to remember them.

Indeed, you think they'd be raised like wolves"“ at least in the younger Philip's case. The feral Philip soars around the house— from couch to chair to tabletop— like some wild flying squirrel, his feet never touching the ground. He subsists on rock music, tuna fish and "The Price Is Right." Unkempt, uneducated and untouched by human hands, he derives his only comfort from embracing the coat his mother left hanging in the closet before she died.

(Is Philip agoraphobic or autistic? In this absurdist world full of dark metaphor, his extreme behavior is never explained).

Kidnapped con man

The violent Treat, on the other hand, knows his way around. He's his brother's keeper, disappearing daily to steal whatever they need to survive, but forbidding Philip to leave the house. Philip, meanwhile, spends his day waiting for Treat to come home, watching the world through dirt-caked windows with the grimy curtains drawn.

Then one dark night Philip wakes up, shocked to find that Treat has brought home something new and terrifying. He's kidnapped a businessman (with criminal connections) and tied him up in their North Camac Street living room. His plan? To call the numbers in the man's address book and demand ransom.

While Treat ducks out for a moment, the captive Harold suddenly springs to life. He entices the gullible Philip to untie him, and within ten minutes has begun to tame this wild creature. "Let me give you some encouragement," Harold croons in the grateful Philip's ear, promising that he is here to help him.

Bait and switch

Treat returns, dismayed to find that the tables have been turned. Only ten minutes later, Treat, too, is conned by this con man. The sweet-talking Harold, played with low-key charisma by Alec Baldwin, tells Treat he wants to hire him as his bodyguard.

"But I kidnapped you!" protests the bewildered Treat, to no avail.

Harold lures both brothers into obeisance with stories of his own orphaned childhood. By the end of Act I, Harold has pulled a bait and switch, brokered a deal, and gained control.

When the lights go up on Act II, the audience erupts in shocked laughter. The brothers' hovel has been transformed with fresh paint and shining new furniture. Philip walks proudly around the apartment (feet on the floor) in a flashy new pair of yellow shoes, while Treat flaunts a jaunty new suit and tie. Harold is in the kitchen preparing bouillabaisse, which he teaches Philip to pronounce as well as eat. It's a wild turn-around, with more to come before this dangerous play concludes.

Quest for a father figure

I saw Orphans when it opened in the 1980s, and remember being frightened and repelled by its violence and ferocity. Not now. This hilarious, harrowing drama has been given a perversely moving interpretation this time around.

Thanks to Dan Sullivan's deft direction, my empathies lie with the brothers in finding a father figure to give them "encouragement," no matter how flawed that father figure turns out to be. Indeed, Harold's efforts to civilize these orphans are deeply touching.

Harold buys Philip a map of Philadelphia and "gives him encouragement" to leave the house, walk to the end of the block, and ride the subway to Broad and Olney"“ for the very first time. "You'll never be lost again," he promises Philip.

Ignominious endings

The unlucky Treat and Philip bear striking similarity to other orphaned brothers in recent drama: Lee and Austin in Sam Shepard's True West, and Booth and Lincoln in Suzan-Lori Parks's Topdog/Underdog. Both pairs were abandoned by their parents, too; both pairs are prone to excessive violence; and both pairs come to an ignominious end.

But there's another, darker reason why I am haunted by this current incarnation of Kessler's disturbing play. I can't help seeing parallels between Kessler's brothers and Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the brothers accused of last month's horrific bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Based on what we know at this point, the suspects were also abandoned (physically, if not spiritually) by their parents, after being fatally misled by at least one of them (allegedly, their mother). What further "encouragement" were the Tsarnaev brothers given by other nameless, nefarious sources?

Do we face a frightening new generation of misguided youth, abandoned by their parents, uprooted, homeless, anarchic, uncivilized and ultimately violent? What darkness have we uncovered?

No wonder this timely revival of Orphans is giving me nightmares.