A MIXED DRAG

If Parasite Drag were a product of Playwriting 101, its author, Mark Roberts, would be the brightest kid in the class. He has an ear for dialogue, a sure way of shaping a scene, and beautifully subtle insights into women, a rare enough gift these days, especially in a male playwright. Â  And he is lucky enough to have two extraordinarily fine actors – Mim Drew and Agatha Nowicki – who raise the first scene of the second act to the level of art. Unfortunately, it is the men – two brothers, one a pastor, the other a roustabout, reunited by the imminent death of their sister – who are at the center of his play, and the actors playing these roles are not quite in the same league. And, as hard as Â  director David Fofi tries to keep sustained excitement throughout the evening, Roberts jams too much into the play – incest, drug addiction, suicide, cunnilingus – and rather than explore each subject that arises, he is content to shock us with each new revelation. And, from the beginning, there is talk of a tornado watch, and, like Chekhov’s gun, we know it’s coming and, when it does – just as the brothers explode with their own private tornado – the moment is not only anti-climactic, it is hopelessly chaotic. A coda – showing how one was before becoming what one is – is free of sentimentality, but not very effective, either. The real problem, however, is that Harold Pinter wrote The Homecoming almost half a century ago and had the ultimate word on dysfunctional families. The realism Roberts offers is no substitute for the darker truth which lies below the surface.

harveyperr @ stageandcinema.com

photo by Joel Daavid

scheduled to close September 18 at time of publication
for tickets, visit http://www.elephanttheatrecompany.com/