GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, the opening title of Keegan Theatre’s 30th season, tricks you right off the bat. It first promises something light, familiar, and maybe even nostalgic. After all, how serious can it get after seeing the play’s opening scene, with two 8-year-old children hanging out and having fun on the playground and then later together in the school nurse’s office with their respective ailments? Well, turns out it can get pretty serious. And a little dark. But still funny and heartfelt. Kind of like life.
Yes, Rajiv Joseph’s GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES is like life in about 90 minutes. What begins with the harmless charm of childhood quickly unfolds into something far more expansive, tracing the messy, tender, and often painful ways two people can orbit each other over the course of a lifetime. It’s a story that sneaks up on you, not with twists, but with emotional truths that land harder than you anticipate, and this production embraces that journey with both humor and heart.
As Kayleen, Irene Hamilton excels, especially when dealing with the character’s struggles in her 20s and 30s. Keegan audiences will remember her turn in WEBSTER’S BITCH, which netted the talented actress a well-deserved Helen Hayes nomination. She unsurprisingly shows real skill with the role, which requires a lot from the actress lucky enough to tackle this challenging arc. We see her Kayleen across the ages: as an awkward tween wrestling with the first signs of an eating disorder, as a teenage exploring her sexuality, and an adult who’s forced to grow up really fast in her early 20s. Hamilton is excellent in nearly all phases.
Hamilton is matched in skill by Jimmy Bartlebaugh’s Doug. His character is similarly asked to leap between time periods, maturity, and vastly different phases of life in quick succession, and there’s no doubt Bartlebaugh has the chops to pull it off. He’s wonderful in the teenage years, especially as a young man not yet adept at expressing feelings in a healthy way other than testosterone-fueled rage that often leaves him with the signature physical scars that come to define his character.
We can’t help but root for him through his adulthood, either, as Bartlebaugh nails the sincerity and honesty of Doug’s 20s and 30s. And these traits are perfectly encapsulated when, towards the end of the play, an exasperated Doug exclaims, “Why does everyone have to be so mean?!” I couldn’t help but be moved by his pure heart in that statement. He’s a good guy, which makes his various and increasingly more severe injuries that much harder to watch.
Special recognition must be given to Scenic Designer and Technical Director, Josh Sticklin. The playground he’s designed is a literal playground but also a metaphorical one. It looks like a conventional playground you’d find in a park or elementary school yard, but it serves as the “playground” for the life that unfolds between our two characters. Its flexibility is impressive as it drops us into hospital rooms, funeral homes, and the nurse’s office at a middle school dance. The transition scenes are well done too, with on-stage changes that happen without taking us out of the world of the play… not to mention the “period” music that took this millennial through a musical journey of nostalgia.
Additionally, one cannot pen a review of GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES without mentioning the makeup and prosthetics, which are a critical component in a piece such as this. Kudos to Alison Johnson, who is credited with these two areas as well as the costumes. I especially loved Kayleen’s middle school dance outfit complete with sparkly top and a long-sleeved shirt underneath.
Finally, one can’t help but give shine to Autumn Tustin, who led the production’s Intimacy. Tustin no doubt helped these two actors navigate the relationship outlined above, and it speaks volumes to the work done here behind the scenes. The intimate moments are honest, tender, and quite beautiful to watch.
In the end, GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES lingers less for its plot than for the emotional residue it leaves behind. The way it captures two people stumbling through life, hurting and healing each other in ways they don’t always understand. It’s messy, funny, and occasionally frustrating, but that’s precisely what makes it resonate. This production leans into that ambiguity with sincerity, offering a story that doesn’t wrap itself in a bow so much as it quietly settles into your memory. By the time you step back out into the night, you realize Joseph’s play has done exactly what it set out to do: remind us that growing up, loving people, and surviving the world rarely look neat, but they’re always worth the journey.
