AISLE SAY Berkshires

PEERLESS

by Jiehae Park
Directed by Louisa Proske
starring Sasha Diamond and Laura Sohn

Barrington Stage Company/St. Germain Stage, June 21-August 6

BSC – 413-236-8888 / barringtonstageco.org

Reviewed by Joel Greenberg

Peerless, by Jiehae Park, is a seriocomic satire about the lengths people go to as they strategize college selection. It’s a very astute series of observations and the production, directed by Louis Proske, never fails to drive home the insanity of the current climate.

Twin sisters, L (Laura Sohn) and M (Sasha Diamond), fabricate their biographical lives in order to make early decision at an esteemed post-secondary institution. They lie about their ages so that the ‘older’ sister, after gaining entry, will pave the way for legacy to provide her ‘younger’ sister’s acceptance. They are Asian in a decidedly all-white world and this is another premeditated factor in their plan.

But as events play out and their plans get scuppered, the twins embark on a series of outrageous acts that underscore Park’s view of our fierce self-absorption. There is murder and there is a faux-Shakespearean device that throws the story’s chaos into pleasureable heartlessness. All doesn’t end well for all, but the final moment punctuates what the playwright has been driving at from the opening scene: we live in a world where caring for self trumps caring for anything or anyone else. All that matters is who wins, and the taste of victory, you can be sure, is anything but sweet.

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