The Brothers Size - TNT

The staging of Tarell Alvin McCraney's three-hander could hardly be more austere — a circle drawn in chalk, subtle changes in lighting, a sprinkle of red dust and a musician tucked away in a corner. Yet its intensity is astonishing as ex-jailbird Oshoosi Size (the younger of two brothers) fails to get to grips with the work ethic of older sibling Ogun, a Louisiana car mechanic. The exploration of brotherhood is sensitively and movingl handled, but there are also moments of delightful humour with the characters speaking not only the dialogue but the stage directions too. Obi Abili and Nyasha Hatendi give superbly tuned performances as the quarrelsome blood relations whose deep, indestructible love for each other is finally expressed, almost too late.Nathaniel Martello-White is impishly destructive as Oshoosi's former cell-mate who became almost as close while they served their sentences. Powerfully directed and with its unique blend of the poetic and the colloquial, this is 90 minutes of thrillingly unmissable theatre.
Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 (020-7922 2922). Until December 12. £18.50-£15.50