Agnes White's options are slim and grim from the moment we encounter her in Tracy Letts's apocalyptic thriller, Bug Just released from prison, there's her hulking ex-husband Jerry Goss, who terrorizes her with silent phone calls before he arrives and punches her out. That's the banal side of Agnes's life, and the brutality she suffers from Goss is a mere preamble to some of the most convincing fighting -- and bloodletting -- you'll ever see onstage. Peter Evans is a more exotic and mysterious proposition. He claims to be the victim of a diabolical government experiment whereby carnivorous aphids were implanted in his gums during a dental procedure -- in preparation for loosing the microbes on Baghdad. In fact, Peter might be an escaped lunatic suffering from dangerous paranoid delusions. Or how about a combo, exploited by evil scientists and crazy? Whatever the truth may be, the Feds are definitely on Peter's tail and closing in. Agnes chooses to believe in Peter, a telling indicator of just how banal her life is -- and how desperate she is to escape to something more satisfying. Jim Jones and Guyana are always an airline ticket away. Kate Buddeke heads this pitch-perfect cast as the beleaguered Agnes, with Michael Cullen magnificently menacing as Goss, and Joey Collins ambiguously cuddly, weasely, volatile, and catatonic as Peter. For those who are fearless and not squeamish, this is a 4-star evening of meaty suspense. I do have to make a small deduction, however, for toxicity. Agnes and Peter are constantly chain-smoking, and as my daughter noted when we first sat down, the place smells like Raid.
