In the two decades since Tarell Alvin McCraney was heralded as a promising new voice for his breakout play “The Brothers Size,” which was first produced in 2007 when he was still a student at the Yale School of Drama, the writer has made good on that promise. The chair of playwriting at that drama school, and artistic director of Geffen Playhouse, he was a Tony nominee for “Choir Boy” and an Oscar-winner for “Moonlight.” Now, that early play, part of the trilogy  “The Brother/Sister Plays” all taking place in the Bayou country of Louisiana, is getting revived in a new production, co-directed by McCraney himself, which opens tonight at the Shed.

Much like “Moonlight,” “The Brothers Size” is largely an exercise in oblique storytelling, where much is suggested rather than spelled out, and crucial events occur outside our presence. The approach is frankly more effective in his later work.  The old play, which we’re told is inspired by West African folklore, is more abstract, more spare in both its plot and its staging; there is just a painted white circle on the floor. Still, there is power and beauty in this revival, thanks to McCraney’s ear for dialogue, the subtle change in our perception of the characters and their relationships over the course of the 90 minutes; and the committed performances by the three members of the cast, who move to the beat of musician Munir Zakee’s African drums, and break into song (most memorably Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.”)

When the play begins, Ogun (André Holland) is trying to get his younger brother Oshoosi (Alani iLongwe)  out of bed. Ogun is a mechanic, who owns an auto repair shop. Oshoosi has recently been released from prison. We never learn what he did. Soon, Elegba (Malcolm Mays) comes to visit; he was an inmate with Oshoosi. He encourages Oshoosi to have Ogun give him a car; when that doesn’t work, Elegba gets one for him – one he just “found” in his cousin’s junkyard.

Ogun is suspicious, harshly so, glaring at Oshoosi while he eats. 

“What you up to?”

“Eating my dinner”

Ogun interrogates him relentlessly. Oshoosi says he isn’t doing anything, just quietly eating his dinner. In one of the funnier passages,  Ogun explodes:

That’s the point you are.
You don’t do nothing quiet;
You snore loud as hell,
You moan when you piss,
And when you eat you talk more shit then you chew!
You up to something. I don’t know what it is, Oshoo, but you better tell me now.,Cause if I find out you doing some …

Oshoosi:Damn, Boy I swear …

Ogun:.. I’m not gone run to your rescue…

Something does happen, which is Elegba’s fault, although it’s unclear how much he planned it. To Ogun, it’s just the latest example of his brother fucking up. In the most straightforwardly informative passage in the play, Ogun recounts a story that happened when Oshoosi was nine years old. and going to church every Sabbath, which made Ogun jealous, especially since all the neighbors said: Why can’t you be as devoted as your brother? It’s a question he asked himself too. But then it turned out that Oshoosi was stealing the money from the collection plate to play craps. So then the neighbors all said in the same tone: If you had been a better role model, Oshoosi wouldn’t have acted like that.

From that day forward, Ogun held on tight: ”I gripped onto your ass and pushed you through school. I forced you up and out…I burned my chance at anything so that I didn’t leave you behind…But no matter what I did…you would slip through and fuck up”

“The Brothers Size” is a kind of dance, in some ways literally (the performers moving around that white circle to the sound of the drums) but also metaphorically – a swirl of envy and resentment and deep love that engages all three characters in different, fascinating and (of course) oblique ways. 

The Brothers Size
The Shed through September 28
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $79 – $139 (for theatergoers under 30: $25)
Written and co-directed by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Co-directed by Bijan Sheibani
Choreography by Juel D. Lane, scenic design by Suzu Sakai, costume design by Dede Ayite, original lighting design by Adam Honoré, lighting design by Spencer Doughtie, sound design and composer Stan Mathabane, musician Munir Zakee, intimacy director Sarah Lozoff
Cast: Andre Holland as Ogun, Alani iLongwe as Oshoosi, Malcolm Mays as Elegba