Some shows are mysteries, delighting audiences with surprises, twists, and turnabouts. Suzan-Lori Parks’ 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog has none of these. It starts with a lurch and pulls the audience toward the concrete wall of its ending without any attempt to hide what is coming. It is vibrant, fresh, jarring, and completely unsurprising. That isn’t to say it isn’t wonderful. This is a journey through a world theatergoers rarely see. The language is the coded roughness of the streets made slicker by the siblings speaking it. The tension of the rivalry between Booth (Mike Traylor) and his older brother Lincoln (Kevin M. Scott) never wavers, and while the power struggle tips one way or the other from time to time, but there’s never an attempt in any way to have the audience suspect anything will go differently between this Booth and Lincoln than it did for the original pair. iTheatre Collaborative’s production, helmed by valley legend Charles St. Clair, might require a few stretches of the imagination (Traylor as the younger brother?) and may seem a bit halting and staccato in the first act, but as it picks up speed in the second, the ride becomes a rollercoaster that is as thrilling as it is inevitable.

Booth and Lincoln are haunted siblings. Abandoned in their early teen years and left to fend for themselves, they moved into their areas of expertise. Booth has the fingers of one who can magically appropriate materials from stores, and Lincoln is a master of Three Card Monte, a short con shell game that lives on the streets of larger cities. Lincoln has since gone “legit” by playing his namesake in a shooting gallery, while Booth has decided it’s time for him to take over where his older sibling has left off. Will Lincoln teach Booth, or will he be drawn back into his shadier specialty?

St. Clair has blocked the antic movements on Christopher Haines’ claustrophobic box set with a frank honesty that keeps us completely involved in the moment. The opening Sunday’s pacing seemed sluggish in the first act, but it’s obvious that these three professionals worked on how to carry the final act from initial caginess to violent end.

We don’t see enough of Traylor in this town. He resurfaces from time to time to remind us of the depth of his talents. Here, though it’s a struggle to believe him as young as his character is supposed to be, he compensates by presenting Booth’s inner-conflicts and outward boasts with a truthfulness that verges on eerie. Sporting cornrows and the attitude of the unsure, he is in the moment as few actors ever are. When he and Scott are working with and against each other, the connection sizzles.

Scott is wonderful presenting Lincoln’s character arc. He moves from browbeaten to angry to playa in a series of completely realistic actions. The transformation is powerful and frightening, and the emotional energy he expends translates perfectly across the footlights. With the action this close to the audience, the actor’s believability is crucial. These two pull it off with bravura.

St. Clair uses isolation spots mixed with general washes and subtle color changes to build tension with lighting. Diane Harris’ costumes are outstandingly character- and period-appropriate.

If there’s one thing lacking from this generally excellent production, it’s a mastery of Three Card Monte. Believability is stretched just when the action reaches the point of no return, but the emotional honesty of the actors generally compensates for this flaw.

You know the trajectory of this bullet from the moment it is chambered. What the story lacks in surprise, it makes up for in power. iTC has mounted yet another wonderful production, and I was glad to see a nice sized audience for a Sunday. I recommend this production highly and look forward to the remaining four productions of their season.