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| (l-r): Sasha Diamond (M) and Laura Sohn (L). Photo credit: Justin Allen |
Jiehae
Park’s exceptionally well written play peerless
offers a unique look into the college application and acceptance process
that affects so many people every year. In the play we meet Asian-American twin
sisters who’ve devised a plan to ensure they both make it into “the college”.
It starts with them attending a new high school where they will enroll in
different grades so as to not compete with each other for the coveted college
spot. “M”, played by Sasha Diamond, would apply and start college first, while
“L”, played by Laura Sohn, would apply the following year. Their plan seems
flawless, until they find out that someone else was accepted instead of M. It
is there they devise a new plan to do whatever it takes to make sure M gets
that spot. As the play progresses we see that they are willing and capable of
doing anything to make their plan succeed.
In
the intimate theatre space, which was easily consumed by darkness (aiding the
mood of the play), the audience sat intrigued by Dirty Girl, Adina Verson, who
appeared with dreadlocks and grungy looking clothes to begin the show. The obvious
outsider of the school where the twins hoped to carry out their plans, she
appeared and disappeared throughout the show offering disturbing insight into
the twins’ future. When the twins first appear, they stand in front of their
lockers spouting off about their plan. The quickness of their speech further
captivated the audience. For the remainder of show we were hooked on the story
described to us as “a comedy until it isn’t”.
Laura
Sohn and Sasha Diamond as the twin sisters L and M were fantastic. Their
dialogue was unbelievably fast, but their diction was flawless and every word
was clearly understood. They fully embraced their roles, diving head first into
the complexity of these characters, their logic and their interpretation of
reality. The actors’ connection to each other, ability to finish each other’s
sentences and to seemingly have the same thought process was uncanny and made
believing them to be twins very easy. Their extensive fight scene late in the
play was supremely choreographed by Ryan Winkles. Adina Verson, as previously
mentioned, portrayed Dirty Girl for the majority of the show and then in the
final scene portrayed Preppy Girl. She was fascinating to watch because we
never knew what she was going to do or say. Ronald Alexander Peet played “BF”,
an African-American boy who unknowingly posed a threat to the twins’ perfect
plan. Ethan Dubin was terrific in his portrayal of fellow classmates “D” and then
later as “D’s Brother”. This excellent five person cast was directed by Louisa
Proske who helped them find the many characteristics, vocal, physical and
emotional dynamics of each character and portray them with passion, honesty and
a bit of humor.
The
scenic design by John McDermott is remarkable and includes panels painted
various colors that are hung on tracks and moved across the stage to create the
various scenes and spaces during the play. The lighting design by Oliver Wason
and sound design by Jeremy S. Bloom further transfixed the audience into the
world of the play. These three elements worked perfectly together to match the fractured
nature of the play and staging from director Louisa Proske.
This
show is unlike anything I have ever seen and is worth a drive that is longer
than the show itself. It is insanely brilliant while totally twisted at the
same time and in the best possible way. I loved the descent into madness and
how it played homage to Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth. This play truly is a comedy, until it isn’t and is not to
be missed.
This
phenomenal production of peerless
runs about 90 minutes with no intermission and plays on the St. Germain Stage at
the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center until August 6th.
For tickets call the box office at 413-236-8888 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org
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