Laurie Metcalf on Broadway: 'Little Bear Ridge Road' Review

The script for Samuel D. Hunter ’s “ Little Bear Ridge Road ” indicates that the play takes place at “a couch in a void.” As the lights come up, we see it — a white leather monstrosity with separate recliners built in — and we see, too, the void. The stage is utterly bare otherwise.

The play takes ample metaphorical advantage of both couch and void. In staging the collision of a reluctant aunt ( Laurie Metcalf ) and her stymied-by-life nephew (Micah Stock) during the early days of COVID, Hunter’s script situates itself within a historical moment when couch-sitting was all many people had. As for the void? Well, those familiar with Hunter’s past work (which includes “The Whale,” which Hunter later adapted for the screen, and “A Bright New Boise”) will not be surprised that Stock’s Et