Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Tracy Lett's Bug is one bugged-out show. Filled with varmints and crawling with vermin, it is one of the best shows I have seen off Broadway.

As you enter the theater there is a wonderful advertisement in the ticket office warning that the show contains nudity, violence and cigarette smoking. And the show certainly contains a lot of nudity and violence, but it is so fast paced the characters have little time to smoke until the very end - but I don't want to give away too much too soon. 

The eerie theme is launched in the beginning when we see the drugged-out Agnes (the wonderful Shannon Cochran) standing in the doorway of a seedy Oklahoma City motel, casually smoking a cigarette, listening to the trucks whizzing by as an ignored phone rings in the background. She then leaves the door wide open while she looks for something to drink in the bathroom. This directorial choice is a great metaphor for the rest of the story, for Agnes is always forgetting to "shut the door."

Soon her lesbian friend RC (the talented Amy Landecker) arrives with Peter (the amazing Michael Shannon) in tow. When RC leaves, she leaves Peter (as a present?), and once Peter is in the door, he never leaves. And with Peter come the bugs, with the bugs comes the paranoia and with the paranoia comes the apocalypse.

Tracy Letts has written a very provocative script that is both scary and darkly funny. And Dexter Ballard has done a great job directing; he really knows how to use the space between the lines. The lighting (Tyler Micoleau) and set (Lauren Helpern) were right on the money; I have stayed in those motels and they nailed it. The talented cast also features Reed Birney, who does a clever turn as the smiling Dr. Sweet (a clever choice of a name) and Michael Cullen who portrays Agnes's ex-husband Goss. Mr. Cullen does a fabulous job playing the menacing and perplexed Goss. So go see Bug, it's "buggin'."

Bug is running a the new Off-Broadway 199-seat Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow Street (at 7th Avenue), New York, NY 10014. (1/9 to Christopher St./Sheridan Square, or A/C/E/F/V to West 4th Street.) Tickets: all seats, all performances are $55 except Fridays & Saturdays at 8 PM which are $60.Tickets: Purchasing Tix: Telecharge at 212-239-6200 or www.telecharge.com or Barrow Street Theatre box office two-hours prior to every performance. Group sales and box office at 212-243-6262.

Websites: visit: www.Bugtheplay.com

The Barrow Street Theater | 27 Barrow Street | West Village