“Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain’s fratricidal query, which has echoed through human history from Genesis to the present day, is interrogated with harrowing intensity in Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited, the latest searing stage production from Orlando’s resurgent Theater on the Edge.
Locked together inside a dismal New York apartment, two polar-opposite strangers are engaged in an existential tug-of-war with life and death stakes: “White” (Allan Whitehead), a prissy professor intent on putting a permanent end to his ennui; and “Black” (Daniel Bentley), an empathetic ex-con who impulsively prevented White’s plunge in front of a commuter train. Within the confines of Black’s humble abode, they spend two hours verbally sparring over faith versus reason and happiness versus suffering, breaking bread and beating their chests while battling over White’s (alleged) immortal soul.
As the author of The Road and No Country for Old Men, McCarthy isn’t known for feel-good stories, so consider this a massive trigger warning if you aren’t in the mood to spend nearly two intermission-less hours being put through an emotional wringer. Unnamed archetypes identified only by their skin color, these characters have minimal backstories, serving mostly as metaphorical megaphones for opposing philosophies, and their plot development basically consists of repeating “I have to leave”/“Please stay” ad nauseam.
What elevates this play beyond a tortuous theological tirade are the full-throated performances from Whitehead and Bentley, under producer Marco DiGeorge’s direction. Whitehead has honed his grumpy old man persona over several TOTE shows, and this misanthropic atheist gives him license to let loose red-faced rage that rattles the walls. Bentley, a veteran of off-Broadway and national tours, displays breathtaking range as a mercurial guardian angel, fluidly shifting from fleet-footed and funny to weak-kneed and weeping; on opening night, his palpable pain during the climax had even a squirming tween in the audience sobbing.
Since this is one of TOTE’s signature “Cinematic Theater Experiences,” the unspoken third character is designer Samantha DiGeorge’s gorgeously grungy tenement set, whose moldy wallpaper and scuffed linoleum look like they’ve witnessed generations of hard living. And this production extends the immersion beyond the fourth wall with smell-o-vision, as the working stove is employed to brew coffee and warm up a savory stew (a recipe is helpfully provided in the digital program).
There are no satisfying answers or heartwarming resolutions to be found in The Sunset Limited, and for all of its admirably honest acting, I wish they’d overlap dialogue and trim the running time closer to the 90-100 minutes of earlier mountings. This talk-therapy train ride isn’t for the faint of spirit, but if you’re brave enough to board, you’re bound to exit with the image of Bentley’s tear-stained face — and the scent of his stew — seared in your memory.
Theater on the Edge
5542 Hansel Ave., Orlando, FL
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This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2025.