Orphans review – oddball hostage power play is a peculiar gem

Jermyn Street theatre, London
An outstanding cast grapple with this revival of Lyle Kessler’s 80s set drama but the play feels incomplete with too many threads remaining unresolved

The quietly intimidating interloper who wanders in to a household to stir up a family drama is not an unfamiliar dramatic trope. The intruder in Lyle Kessler’s Philadelphia household comes disguised first as victim, then slowly exerts his dominance until he is ruling the roost.

The family here consists of two oddball brothers; Phillip (Fred Woodley Evans) is the younger, more vulnerable and apparently housebound. Treat (Chris Walley) is more volubly in charge, and a petty thief in the outside world.