Is putting a killer whale on display in Lower Manhattan a revolutionary gesture or a disaster waiting to happen? Are predators cruel by nature or are they just doing their job? Director-actor Tim Redmond delves for deep answers in Robin Maguire's tangled drama about a hotshot architect whose career tanks after his dream project collapses. And an exploding aquarium and a murderous whale are just the beginning of his problems: He's also got a teary wife in a too-close-for-comfort relationship with her incarcerated half-brother, an escalating drinking problem, and a nagging biologist who's like a one-man PETA. The cast (especially Daniel Lennox and Scott Paulin) dive fearlessly into the material, but ultimately Aquarium sinks under the weight of its own bloated narrative.

Aquarium
By Robin Maguire
Linhart Theatre at 440 Studios
Fri, Aug 12 at 5 p.m.; Sun, Aug 14 at 9:30 p.m.; Thu, Aug 18 at 3 p.m.; Sun, Aug 21 at 5 p.m.; Fri, Aug 26 at 7 p.m.