Review: Two Messed-Up Souls Almost Fall in Love in Gruesome Playground Injuries

“Can I see it?” Kayleen (Kara Young) asks Doug (Nicholas Braun) in the opening scene of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries. They’re both 8. She’s referring to a massive cut on Doug’s forehead that he got after riding a bicycle off the roof of the Catholic school in which they are both enrolled. In the world of this 2009 play, that request is more than just a request to glimpse gory forbidden fruit, but something like a declaration of love in what becomes a perverse almost-romantic 30-year relationship between two self-destructive souls. Currently being revived in a new production directed by Neil Pepe, Gruesome Playground Injuries may well be the most romantic show in New York City right now, in its own violent and darkly funny ways.

Joseph’s play takes a non-chronological approach, jumping back and forth between childhood and adulthood. Each episode, introduced by onstage projections that tell us the characters’ ages, reveals a different scar of some sort. Even as Doug gets older, his penchant for putting himself in harm’s way never subsides. At age 23, he loses his left eye after a firework blows up in his face; at 28, he falls into a coma after getting struck by lightning while climbing a roof; at 33, he breaks one of his legs in a fall.

Kayleen’s scars run deeper than Doug’s. During a school dance at 13, Doug encounters her after she has just thrown up, suggesting she’s in the throes of an eating disorder. In later scenes, she confides in Doug about a sexual encounter that wasn’t entirely consensual, shows off self-inflicted cuts on her legs, and is forced into an extended hospital stay after an especially serious suicide attempt.

And yet, something keeps drawing Doug and Kayleen to each other. Perhaps Kayleen finds a grounding presence in Doug, who exudes a generosity towards her otherwise missing in her life. What attracts Doug to Kayleen is less clear, but a couple scenes hint that he sees her as a kind of personal savior. Joseph deliberately keeps backstory to a minimum, though there is a faint feeling of imbalance in his writing, with Kayleen given a bit more detail than Doug. Joseph seems less interested in character drama than in lyrically evoking a sense of doomed romance between two people who are tragically right for each other but are fated to never be able to consummate their relationship.

At the very least, Gruesome Playground Injuries offers a dazzling showcase for two great performers. Kara Young has proven herself to be one of the best stage actors working today, having won two Tony Awards in consecutive years for her performances in Purlie Victorious and Purpose. She’s consistently perky and appealing as Kayleen, which makes the character’s self-harm even more heartbreaking. Nicholas Braun is arguably an even bigger draw in this production, making his New York stage debut after having played Cousin Greg on the hit TV series Succession. He makes a smooth screen-to-stage transition here as Doug, projecting the kind of thirst for life that helps make sense of a relatively opaque character. Joseph’s text may not make the reasons for their connection clear, but Braun and Young’s chemistry together easily papers over such cracks.

One of the most striking aspects of Pepe’s production comes from one of Joseph’s most important stage directions: In between scenes, both actors change clothes and makeup in full view of the audience, a move that adds to the play’s sense of raw exposure. But Pepe adds to the show’s poetic feeling in other ways. Arnulfo Maldonado’s spare scenic design—made up of three white screens surrounding two beds, with two sinks on the side—gives off an antiseptic feel, as if Doug and Kayleen are perpetually hospital-bound. Japhy Weideman introduces occasional warm shades of color onto the white screens in his lighting design. Sound designer David Van Tieghem has chosen an appropriately melancholy soundtrack for the lengthy scene changes, mixing prerecorded tunes with original music. Sarah Laux’s costume design effortlessly distinguishes between the characters’ different ages and emotional states throughout this darkly romantic chronicle.

And darkly romantic Gruesome Playground Injuries certainly is. It’s the kind of play where the height of connection lies in 13-year-old Doug and Kayleen looking in wonder at the swirled-together vomit they have both upchucked into a garbage can. This beautifully acted and directed revival reminds us of the value of daring to find beauty in the grotesque.