At Bas Bleu: Sibling rivalry at its best in ‘The Best Brothers’

A mother’s untimely death fuels the action in this dark, thoughtful comedy by Daniel MacIvor

The Best Brothers opens with two brothers individually receiving the news of their mother’s seemingly untimely and tragicomic death (crushed under a float at a gay pride parade). What follows are all the natural tasks children of the deceased must handle: the writing of the obituary, the setting up of the visitation, the arranging of the funeral and the reading of the will.

What drives a lot of the show’s humor and action is how these bickering brothers actually handle these tasks. The Best Brothers, directed by Lynn Bogner and playing at the Fort Collins Bas Bleu Theatre, will have you laughing, crying and contemplating some deep thoughts that arise when face to face with sudden death.

There are only two actors in this play, yet there are indeed four characters. Hamilton, played by Jeffrey Bigger, is the typical older brother — all business, with a no-nonsense attitude, while Kyle, played by Kevin Crowe, is the younger, needier brother. In fact, their mother admits she “loved him harder” because he needed it. Hamilton knew this, adding to the conflict between these two very opposite brothers.

The two actors pull double duty, playing not just the brother roles, but sporadically throughout the play they each don a pair of white gloves, glasses and hat to channel Bunny Best — their dearly departed mother. This gives us a unique glimpse into the character we’d otherwise only know through the brothers. It is through her that we get much of the soul searching, life questions and ideas that will stay with us long after the play has ended.

These glimpses of the matriarch give us ample opportunity to get to know her and her unique take on love, life and death. Considering her own death Bunny Best says, “I don’t know that I know what love is, but I know that it makes dying harder.”

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Decisions, decisions

The fourth character in this play has no lines and is only seen in his carrier. Enzo, an Italian greyhound, is adopted by Bunny after a vision comes to her during an enlightening experience in Peru. What to do with Enzo — and which of the brothers is to keep him, their other sibling — is part of the struggle between the two brothers. Enzo is also what eventually brings realizations and resolution to the brothers simply by being there — or by being a burden.

As the two brothers come together to take care of all the arrangements, each has his own idea of how this will go. Kyle writes the obituary, asking the advice of Hamilton with each individual word he puts to paper. He would very much like to include the word ‘peaceful’ because he’s seen it in many of the templates he has, but Hamilton is dumbfounded and then frustrated because there was nothing peaceful about the way their mother died.

The two argue and banter back and forth like this throughout the play, each believing their way is the way Bunny would have preferred. Their personalities come through at the funeral when Hamilton falters at the podium while giving the eulogy and Kyle steps in to “help.” We see Hamilton getting angrier and angrier, while Kyle remains oblivious. Soon the two forget that they are in front of the mourners and their reaction and embarrassment at this fact is hilarious. Their comic timing and complete confidence in their roles proves a real match in the casting of these two very convincing actors.

At times laugh-out-loud funny, and other times touchingly tear-inducing and always thoughtful and inspiring, The Best Brothers is 90 minutes of high-quality theatre in Fort Collins.