Stories of power struggles and greed have existed from Shakespearean times to now. In Macbeth, the titular general is driven to murder and madness in his pursuit to become the next king. Imagine that obsession except with Asian American twins trying to get into the college of their dreams — by any means necessary. This is the story in Peerless by Jiehae Park. At George Washington University, in a production featuring student performers for whom high school is no distant past, the play’s conversations about college admissions and diversity ring true. Smart direction by Jodi Kanter keeps up the pacing, and talented performers bring pieces of themselves to these roles.
The story follows M (after Macbeth, played by Katrina Heil), “the smart one” who hopes college will be her ticket out of their small Midwestern town, and L (after Lady Macbeth, played by Charlotte Kim), “the graceful one” who was held back a year. They discover that a fellow student, D (a quasi Duncan/Banquo, played by Dennis Hancock), got into “The College” they were gunning for, partly due to being one-16th Native American. They hatch a plot to kill D, which escalates into more than they bargained for. Along the way, M continually wonders “Why is everyone oppressing me?” — a recurring theme among the diverse characters.
The standout technical elements in this production pay tribute to its Shakespearean scope and the story’s outlandish extremes while grounding us in the reality of a contemporary setting. The sound design by Kebby Seyoum ranges from the noise of grinding rat teeth in moments of M going mad to a playlist of 2000s hits in a school dance scene. The volume levels between the sound and actors’ voices could have been more balanced toward the end of that school dance scene. But that scene still stands out with lighting by Alberto Segarra,…
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