The tent in the corner of the rehearsal room is an off-white, bare-bones affair that scarcely looks robust enough to withstand a draught, let alone the howling wind on a Wyoming mountainside. But this, to quote MTV Cribs, is where the magic happens. The sheep-herders Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist snuggle up together here against the cold, their comradeship flaring into desire. So begins a love affair that will dominate their lives over the next few decades even as they go their separate ways and marry women.
Brokeback Mountain has already cantered from page (Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story) to screen (Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning 2005 film). Now it arrives on stage, adapted by Ashley Robinson and featuring Lucas Hedges, the grave young star of Manchester By the Sea, who steps into the late Heath Ledger’s cowboy boots as Ennis. Playing Jack, the role originated by Jake Gyllenhaal, is Mike Faist, who was wiry and electrified as Riff in Steven Spielberg’s recent West Side Story.
