Abraham and out of Sarah and Hagar, respectively, are here embodied by Brutus and Wanda.  They are locked in a battle that has no resolution but which scars and damages the combatants nearly to death, and hauls the audience along as it evinces laughter, fright, recognition and helplessness.

The third component of Shanley’s quartet is Frank, frankly “Amurrican,” and with not too much subtlety, is our current president, who swaggers in cowboy garb, speaks in a Texas drawl, totes and sells guns and cigarettes and provides money to warring parties everywhere. The fourth character is Watson, subservient to Frank, sycophantic, reluctant participant, British accented, also, not at all vaguely hinted at, Tony Blair.

On a set that is seemingly haphazard, slightly claustrophobic and very clever, it reflects the tension, threat, illogic and chaos of its inhabitants. When the set itself plays as active a role on a stage as this one does, it is a breathtaking signal of superbdirection and technical artistry.

Sotirios Livaditis is Brutus. With consummate skill, range and flair, his Brutus embodies all the history, frustrations, angers and hopelessness of current day Palestine. Frozen by cynicism and despair into inaction, despite his obvious brilliance, Brutus embarks on a systematic endeavor to eliminate Wanda, in the ultimate sibling rivalry. Livaditis never lets down for an instant. He stalks, prowls, leaps, tumbles all the while speaking with machine-gun velocity volumes about the gamut of personal and Palestinian angst.

As Heather Lawrence interprets Wanda, she provides equal passion and strength to her personification of Israel, sufficient to make the conflict between her and Brutus not only believable but inevitable and irresolvable. Ms. Lawrence conveys a complete range of emotion and physicality that precludes any stereotyping of herself as a female. Her Wanda is powerful, coy, sexy, violent, brave, vulnerable and supremely intelligent, and she is a joy to watch and listen to.

Frank, whom we all know from current events, is given an almost endearing quality by Kurt Brighton. While inadvertently providing the humor that recognition of the send-up of the Leader of the Free World, he also makes Frank chillingly realistic by turning a mirror onto ourselves and making us question our country’s role in the larger world. Frank wants to be a hero, but he is providing the very stuff of death to anyone with the price. He disdains Brutus’s violence and inaction as he simultaneously covets Brutus’s family’s [olive] oil. He must also acknowledge his attraction to Wanda’s allure and their loving past relationship. Brighton manages the teeter-totter with exquisite timing, seeming self-deprecation and great wit.