'Bug' Broadway review — Carrie Coon and Namir Smallwood burrow into an intense drama

Read our review of Bug, the Broadway premiere of Tracy Letts's 1996 psychological thriller, presented by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Summary

• Bug follows a lonely waitress and paranoid war vet whose romance leads them into a dangerous spiral of conspiracy and delusion
• The show features excellent performances by Carrie Coon and Namir Smallwood and offers a rare opportunity to see a psychological thriller on Broadway but has dramatic shortcomings
• Audiences praised the timeliness of the 1996 play in today's era of disinformation
• The show is recommended for fans of Coon's TV work (The White Lotus; The Gilded Age) and that of playwright Tracy Letts (August: Osage County)

Call it a glow-down, and Carrie Coon rocks it. After seeing the Emmy and Tony Award nominee glammed up in the sumptuous TV shows The White Lotus and The Gilded Age, it’s a genuine treat to watch her walk on the seedy side — hitting a freebase pipe, no less — on Broadway in the wild but sometimes wobbly Bug.

In this conspiracy theory-filled 1996 mind-bender by playwright Tracy Letts (August: Osage County), her real-life husband, Coon plays Agnes, a bone-deep lonely waitress with an abusive ex-husband Jerry (Steve Key) and a mystery surrounding her child. At lights up, Agnes stands in a grubby Oklahoma motel room gazing out the open door. Expecting someone?

Aggie’s life changes when her friend R.C. (Jennifer Engstrom) drops by with a guy she just met, Peter (a riveting Namir Smallwood). A lost soul like Agnes, he and she click, then hit the sheets. Deeper feelings emerge when Peter, a Gulf War vet, claims the U.S. government has planted microscopic, parasitic aphids in his body to track and control him. Agnes buys his deluded tale and clings to it like a tick. By the time creepy Dr. Sweet (Randall Arney) arrives claiming to know all about the pair's troubles, disaster looms.

Thrillers are rare specimens on Broadway, so director David Cromer’s production — cast intact from a 2020 run with Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago — is a welcome departure from typical living-room dramas. While bureaucratic espionage and broken people make for fertile, topical terrain, there are flies in Letts’s dramatic ointment. An uneventful first act wearies. Random banging and buzzing and long silent stretches don’t unsettle as presumably intended. And the notion that Agnes's loneliness is so extreme that it makes her susceptible to Peter's wild delusions strains credulity. It’s not like she’s shut off from society. We’re left to just go with it; how much that bugs you will vary.

Amid crafty scenic metamorphoses, blood, violence, and pyrotechnics, the show’s most special effects are performances by Coon and Smallwood. They’ve etched their forsaken characters with impressive ache and intensity that sets off sparks as bright as any bug zapper.

Bug summary

Lonely waitress Agnes, hiding from her abusive ex-husband in a motel, meets the drifter Peter, who convinces her they’re victims of a diabolical secret experiment. Fueled by drugs, alcohol, delusion, and paranoia, they spiral down a disturbing path from which there’s no coming back.

What to expect at Bug

Bug burrows into dark places, including Peter’s troubled mind. Along the way to an explosive conclusion, the conversation turns to notorious figures: serial killer Ted Bundy, Oklahoma bomber Tim McVeigh, and cult leader and mass murderer Jim Jones.

At its core, Letts’s play explores intimacy that’s more than skin-deep. To underscore that idea, Agnes and Peter are naked during an extended scene. As such, you must power down and seal your cell phone in a provided Yondr pouch before entering the theatre.

What audiences are saying about Bug

As of publication, the play has an 80% audience approval ranking on the review aggregator Show-Score. Theatregoers applauded the script, acting, and production.

• “A thrilling drama about parasites and paranoia. It is worth seeing for the great execution, for the iconic place of the play, but the takeaway is on the limited side.” - Show-Score user aka
• “You need to go with someone so you can discuss it afterwards. Very provocative and I don’t mean the nudity. Very thoughtful play.” - Show-Score user Cathy W
• “Great acting by the whole cast [...] Act 1 could be shorter. Do not miss this play written by Tracy Letts that is full of paranoia, love, loneliness, and desperation.” - Show-Score user Fancastik
• “It’s about fear, trauma, speculations, suspicions, and delusional disorders. This is a timely play now, with the rise of modern conspiracy theories, disinformation & distrust.” - Show-Score user ZORAYDA M.
• “A very weird little story that tries to show how vulnerable, damaged, lonely people can fall prey to others’ delusions...even that of a mentally deranged person.” - Show-Score user joseph 9116

Read more audience reviews of Bug on Show-Score.

Who should see Bug

• Letts’s plays are always must-sees. This early work, on Broadway 22 years after its Off-Broadway premiere, exemplifies his bold, big swings and vivid characters.
• Fans of Coon’s theatre work, including her Tony-nominated turn in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, will want to see her Broadway return.
• Namir Smallwood, seen on Broadway in Pass Over, shoulders much of the Bug’s heavy emotional lifting and needs to be seen.
• Fans of stagecraft will appreciate the show’s scenic and lighting design by, respectively, Takeshi Kata and Heather Gilbert. The seedy hotel undergoes a major transformation before your eyes.

Learn more about Bug on Broadway

Between fine acting and the chance to see a seldom-represented genre on stage, theatregoers have reasons to swarm to Bug.

Learn more and get Bug tickets on New York Theatre Guide. Bug is at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through February 22.

Photo credit: Bug on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)