Orphans (Southwark Playhouse)

There is of course no copyright on play titles and one could be forgiven for thinking that one was about to revisit Dennis Kelly's scorchingly brilliant 2009 play of the same name. Alas, no. This is a heavy slice of American drama by Lyle Kessler, with urban violence as one of its themes, but which takes a much more surreal and overly symbolic view of two abandoned and lonely brothers locked in a simplistic world of their own making.

The older brother, Treat (Alexander Neal) bullies and controls his slow-witted sibling, Philip (Chris Pybus), even forbidding him to open a window in case he is choked by the Philadelphia night air. Treat, who indulges in street-mugging to keep them both in tuna and Hellman's mayonnaise, comes home one night with a drunken businessman he has met in a bar and whom he then decides to kidnap and hold to ransom. That this cack-handed scheme is going to go awry is never in doubt, but the one surprise that the play delivers is what happens when the businessman, Harold (Mitchell Mullen), turns the tables.

Philip, entrusted with watching over Harold while Treat goes out and tries to extort money for Harold's release, strikes up a rapport with the 'victim', and Harold takes an unexpected interest in this half-formed man-child. There are suggestions of sexual interest, but they pass. Does Harold take advantage of his seemingly 'magical' freedom and make his escape? No. He decides to stay and employ the vicious Treat as his 'bodyguard' although it is perfectly plain that Treat doesn't have the nous to be anything more than the petty thief that he is.

Just who is this extraordinary character Harold, who takes over and transforms their lives? A substitute father? A guardian spirit who teaches them both the realities of life and comes and goes like a downtown Mary Poppins? Just what he gains from lavishing money on them both, and moving into their dingy apartment with them, is never explicit. But he, in his world of dodgy financial dealings, is just as damaged and disenfranchised from life as the two brothers are.

This makes for some bleakly comic moments, but there are times when the writing has the earnestness of a hard-wrought product of a creative writing course striving for significance. There is some clumsy exposition, some heavily signalled revelations and, ultimately, no real heart. That it was nominated for a Tony award in New York is to its credit, but on this showing it's hard to see why.

Mitchell Mullen exudes a sinister and enigmatic charm as Harold, Chris Pybus gives Philip an appealing innocence and Alexander Neal almost pulls off the tricky task of the would-be hard man finding some genuine emotion in a precarious relationship. Overall, though, one is too conscious of the hand of the writer, pulling the strings.

Orphans runs at Southwark Playhouse until 5 March.