The MMA-themed sibling drama is one of the best plays staged in San Diego this year
In Ngozi Anyanwu’s play “Monsters,” two siblings must call on their inner demons to survive a lifetime of abuse, abandonment and addiction. But their saving grace is loving each other and learning when to let their monsters go.
The riveting and heartbreaking 85-minute drama opened Friday at La Jolla Playhouse, which co-produced the staging with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Set in Philadelphia in the world of mixed martial arts fighting, “Monsters” is the lifelong love story of older brother “BIG” and stepsister “LIL,” who is 10 years his junior.
Tautly and viscerally directed by Tamilla Woodard, the non-linear “Monsters” hopscotches back and forth across 40-plus years of the siblings’ lives, gradually filling in the blanks on the traumatic experiences and other hard knocks that would shape their futures. As the play begins, LIL shows up at BIG’s gym, ending an unexplained 16-year estrangement. He’s now a 40-year-old regional MMA champ and an ascetic loner devoted to his sobriety.
She’s a rootless, hard-drinking Applebee’s worker who longs to reconnect with the brother who was once her best friend, babysitter and protector. In several sweet flashback scenes that begin when LIL was 6 and BIG 16, the siblings create their own joyful world of play while their family collapses around them. Ultimately they drift apart, but LIL’s hero worship of her big brother leads her to track him down as she’s turning 30.
Eventually, BIG takes LIL under his wing and begins training her to connect with her inner rage and become an MMA warrior. But the feisty LIL chafes at his hard-earned lessons about sobriety and fighting safely to avoid permanent injuries. Over the course of several workout and fighting scenes, stunningly choreographed by Adesola Osakalumi with sizzling sound by UptownWorks and lighting by Reza Behjat, LIL gradually transforms herself into fighting shape.
But as she rises in the sport, she leaves BIG behind. Playwright Anyanwu, a 2013 graduate of UC San Diego’s MFA acting program, stars in the production as LIL and Sullivan Jones stars as BIG. The two actors have fantastic chemistry together and they physically play off each other well. The petite Anyanwu is funny, fiery and frenetic and the muscular Sullivan moves with icy restraint, like a broken man in a wounded body.
Nina Ball designed the gym and locker room scenery and Celeste Jennings designed the costumes, which outfit LIL in flashy warm colors and BIG in cooler hues. Sijara Eubanks served as the play’s mixed martial arts consultant and Chelsea Pace was the fight consultant.
As thrilling as the MMA scenes are in the play, it’s the honest and heart-wrenching performances by Jones and Anyanwu that make “Monsters” one of this year’s most entertaining plays of the year.7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through June 28Tickets:
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