Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 with the Matrix Theatre Company in LA, and has since been widely performed, including on Broadway and by the Steppenwolf and Apollo Theatres.
The play tells the story of two young brothers – Treat and Phillip, who were orphaned in early childhood and have since lived independently in an abandoned, decrepit house in Philadelphia. Treat, the older of the two brothers, provides for the household through petty theft. Meanwhile, Philip has been effectively infantilized by his older brother - he's not allowed to leave the house (Treat tells his brother than if he does venture outside, his allergies to pollen will kill him). Treat does this partly because of his violent and controlling nature, but ultimately he bullies his brother because he fears that he'll lose Phillip, the only family he has left, just as he's lost his parents.
One day, Treat encounters an affluent-looking man named Harold carrying a suitcase full of money. He takes the drunken Harold home, ties him to a chair, with the intent of holding him hostage for ransom. The plan goes completely awry the next day when Harold unties himself with very little effort and disarms Treat.
Harold turns out to be a very wealthy and powerful Chicago gangster. However, rather than taking revenge on the two brothers, he feels as sense of affinity for both of them, having been an orphan himself. Over time, Harold becomes the only father figure Treat and Phillip have ever had - helping them out financially, offering Treat a job as his "bodyguard" (mostly just running errands), fixing up their house, and teaching them the ways of the world. Most importantly, he helps Phillip realize that he has what it takes to function in the outside world.
In the meanwhile, Harold is playing a game of cat and mouse with rival gangsters, presumably his main reason for moving so much money around.
The play alternates between a realist/naturalist style and absurdism in the manner of Harold Pinter.
Alan J. Pakula adapted Kessler's play into a 1987 feature film starring Albert Finney as Harold, Matthew Modine as Treat, and Kevin Anderson as Phillip. Finney and Anderson appeared in the same roles in the play's London and Broadway premieres, respectively.
The play and the film have no connection to the V. C. Andrews novel of the same name.
This work provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: Harold is a wealthy and powerful gangster, so he's probably been involved in everything from money laundering to extortion to murder. However, he's the friendliest man you'll ever meet, he's patient to a fault, and he becomes a loving father figure to the two delinquents who ineptly tried to kidnap him.
- Big Brother Bully: Treat always intimidates his younger brother physically and emotionally in order to maintain his control of the household.
- Character Catchphrase: Harold's favorite way of describing orphans and juvenile delinquents is "Dead end kids".
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Treat thinks Harold is little more than a drunken buffoon and thus an easy target for robbery and later kidnapping. Once he sobers up, Harold easily unties the knots Treat used to bind him, then goes on to punch out and disarm Treat.
- Everyone Has Standards: Thief and street thug though he is, Treat can't stand to see helpless elderly people being mistreated by rude drivers and bus passengers.
- Foreshadowing: Harold discovers that one of his associates has been murdered by rival gangsters.
- Freudian Excuse: A great deal of Treat's controlling and bullying behavior towards his brother is driven by Treat's fear of being abandoned by the only family he has left. Therefore, Treat has intentionally tried to keep Phillip as helpless as possible to prevent him from going off and living on his own.
- Genius Ditz: Phillip - not a genius per se, but certainly much more capable than his situation or circumstances would suggest. Being isolated from the outside world has left Phillip naive, child-like, and lacking even the most basic life skills such as being able to tie his own shoelaces. On the other hand, Phillip was intelligent enough to teach himself how to read at an adult level just by browsing through magazines and books in the attic.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Treat is unable to control his anger, to the point where Harold no longer trusts him to run errands for him or to carry a gun.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Treat is a petty thief and a trouble-maker who also mercilessly bullies his largely helpless younger brother Phillip. However, he's completely devoted to his brother (albeit in a rather warped way), and also grows to love Harold as the father figure that he never had.
- Karma Houdini: Barney (the fence Treat peddles his stolen merchandise to) never gets any comeuppance for revealing Harold's hide-out to his mob rivals.
- Manchild: Phillip has become this thanks to Treat keeping him locked up in the house and never having to do anything for himself. In one scene, he doesn't even know how to tie his shoes despite being in his late teens or early 20s.
- Manly Tears: Tough guy Treat sobs like a helpless child when Harold dies of the stab wound he received outside, and has to be consoled by Phillip.
- Mood Whiplash: Orphans is a dark comedy: it tells a rather sad story using absurdist humor.
- Mortal Wound Reveal: When Harold returns to Treat and Phillip's house in the final scene, he seems his normal self at first, but when he takes off his coat a bloody gunshot or stab wound on his stomach can be seen. He dies shortly afterwards while talking to the boys.
- Oireland: Harold plays up his Irish background by speaking in an exaggerated Irish accent in several scenes.
- The Shut-In: Phillip isn't allowed to leave the house by Treat. He's been told that if he walks around outside, his pollen allergies will kill him.
- Smarter Than You Look: Despite being isolated at home with no social contact apart from his older brother and having zero schooling, Phillip tought himself how to read and speaks with the vocabulary and grammar of an educated person.
- The Syndicate: Judging by the amount of cash and bonds Harold carries around, he operates at a very high level of whatever mob outfit he works for (or runs).
- Too Dumb to Live: Because of his inability to control his temper, Treat becomes a liability to Harold. While Harold tries to keep a low profile, Treat boasts of his connections to a wealthy gangster to his sleazy and vindictive fence, brandishes a gun in public, and picks fights over trivial slights. In the end, Treat's behavior allows Harold's rivals to track him down and kill him, thus depriving Treat and Phillip of the closest thing to a father figure they've ever had.
- Unsafe Haven: Harold uses Treat and Phillip's house as a hide-out, which proves to be a mistake as Treat's reckless behavior draws more attention to them.
- Wicked Cultured: Harold is a high-ranking Chicago gangster who happens to be well-read, very eloquent in his speech, and a good cook. In the movie, he's seen reading a novel by Graham Greene.
