Review: BUG at Dirt Dogs Theatre Company

The play BUG is an emotional dare, a technical nightmare, and one of the hardest scripts from celebrated actor and playwright Tracy Letts to produce. It first appeared in 1996 for a short London run, and then subsequently was reworked again and again until an off-Broadway production hit there in 2004. That particular incarnation of BUG was infamous for the sudden departure of Amanda Plummer, who walked out of the theater less than twenty-four hours before opening night. The show has drug use, profanity, nudity, violence, and runs at an emotional fever pitch from start to finish. It's an actor's dream and nightmare simultaneously. Here in Houston in 2010, Theatre Southwest presented a daring and oh-so-skilled take on BUG, but that is the last time I recall this challenging work being presented locally. Everyone else has been too afraid to even touch it. But leave it to Dirt Dogs Theatre Company to journey into this wild ride with no hesitation and no sense of fear at all. They have managed to restage BUG for 2025, and boy, is it a doozy! You don’t want to miss this revival and reimagining of the Tracy Letts cult classic. The entire company goes for broke, and they create a fiery display of acting, visuals, and audio landscapes that will blow you back in your chair. 

Narratively, we watch Agnes, who is a waitress, trying to hide from her violent ex-husband, who is recently out of jail. Her lesbian work buddy RC introduces her to a mentally unstable Gulf War vet named Peter. He stays with Agnes, and together they do drugs, make love, and descend into a shared madness that manifests by them both becoming convinced that aphids are after them. BUG is about very uncomfortable subjects such as substance abuse, domestic violence, paranoia, psychosis, PTSD, and toxic relationships. It is as dark as they come. While the playwright and the directors claim it is a “love story,” I believe that, despite the rather romantic folie a deux, BUG is a particularly effective horrific tale of delusional infestation and a portrait of two lonely people ripping each other apart in order to disappear together. It’s a perfect piece to talk to 2025, when delusion and mutually shared madness seem all too close to home. How many of us are ratcheting up the others' delusions? 

Callina Anderson is one of Houston’s best actors, and playing Agnes, she is a revelation. The role asks her to remove her trademark ice queen armor and lay herself emotionally bare. She lets loose with a hurricane of emotional depth and internalized grief. This is an artist at her peak, and the performance is stunning. She anchors BUG with her extreme skill. Kyle Clark appears as Peter, and he physically hits new heights as an actor here. He shrinks and grows as needed, and his manic episodes here are eerily always on point. It’s hard not to believe Peter, not to love him like Agnes does. But at the same time, he is horrifically off-kilter. That Kyle can do this highwire act of emotional vulnerability and explosive anger is insanely mindblowing to see. He rips the hinges right off the play! Together, they make BUG their own. So much is asked of these two, and they never hold back or flinch. The emotional depths they are asked to plumb are unreal, and they handily manifest what is asked. 

Supporting these two are equally skilled ensemble players. Jeff Featherston has often been seen as an ideal husband onstage, but here he plays the darkest of the dark in Jerry Goss. He’s amazingly scary as he towers over every other character with a glint, a smile, and an all too eager fist. Maggie Maxwell gives the tough and tender RC a wonderful inner life, and we ache to see her relationships shift as she watches madness erupt around her. Curtis Barber plays Dr. Sweet, and he certainly adds exactly the right creepy tones asked of his mysterious presence. There is no weak link here, and the acting is amazingly well-executed.  

Technically, things couldn’t be more stellar. Mark A. Lewis has designed the seedy motel room that has to transform as things bug out, and it’s smart and swift in execution. John Baker’s shadowy lighting is miraculous, providing a murky cloak for actors when they need it or blinding flashes that reveal everything when the script calls for it. But if I fell in love with anything, it would be the sound design from Michael Mullins. Boy, does he serve this piece extremely well. His technical work is right up there with the actors as its own character, and the sonic play going on here is as skilled as any of the onstage performers. If I could give an acting award to his recordings, I would. 

Over all of this are co-directors Malinda L. Beckham and Curtis Barber, long-time participants in Dirt Dogs Theatre Company. Their work is astounding in realizing what most companies would run screaming away from. There is nary a missed beat or moment that doesn’t ring true, and these two have made this one of the best productions in Houston this year. Acting, tech, and just sheer hutzpah, you can’t beat BUG. It’s a horrific love story that will get under your skin. Dirt Dogs has truly stretched this year to prove where they are strongest, and material like this is what they were destined to do as artists. They take difficult pieces and make them look flawless, repulsively beautiful, and awash in a glow of hoydenish miasma. In anyone else’s hands (even some of the biggest names locally), this could be a mess rather than a masterpiece. They shy away from nothing and deliver everything this needs to make you marvel as your skin crawls. 

This is a superlative vision of BUG, and if you are game to see one of Tracy Letts’ most searing and scary plays, this is one not to miss. The acting is top-notch, the tech is right where it needs to be, and the direction never slips a beat or a moment. The play builds into a crescendo where every emotion and action is turned up to combustion. This is a flammable experience, and one you won’t soon forget. Skip anything else until you have seen this production. It well may take another fifteen years for anyone to ever get brave enough to do this one again. 

BUG only runs at the MATCH through May 31st. The MATCH offers plenty of parking around in the nearby streets, and there is a “pay-for” garage across the street. Restaurants and bars are within walking distance, and there is a concessions stand on site. Please be advised that BUG contains nudity, violence, and almost constant depictions of drug and alcohol abuse. Sensitive viewers should be warned. The show runs two hours and has an almost twenty-minute intermission to accommodate some shifts in the set. Food is not allowed in the auditorium, but drinks are welcome and likely needed.