Sometimes the person you need to meet is not the person you’d
choose to encounter. That is, in essence, the premise of “The Lake Effect,” the
2013 play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph. A beautifully unfolding
chamber drama, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, “The Lake Effect” gives audiences an
unflinching glimpse into a family fractured and then reunited by death.
Siblings Vijay and Priya haven’t
spoken in ages, but they find themselves back at their family’s Indian
restaurant in Cleveland when their father, Vinod, suddenly decides to sell the
place. Vijay arrives first, and he soon after meets an unsettling stranger,
Bernard. Claiming to be a friend of Vijay’s dad, Bernard knows intimate details
from Vijay’s family history, even revealing secrets previously unknown to the
oblivious son.
The affable (if somewhat overwhelming) Bernard — played with
spellbinding vitality by the charismatic Clinton Lowe — is the ideal,
instigating foil to Neimah Djourabchi’s
uptight, easily irritated Vijay.
Once Priya, played by Lipica Shah, arrives amidst an ever-present and
particularly nasty snowstorm, what was an already murky soup bubbling with
confusion and jealousy becomes a complicated stew of familial sniping. These
tense moments are sporadically eased by bouts of light-hearted nostalgia and
the connection to their late mother, but Vijay and Priya
quickly resume their attitudes of mutual distrust and resentment. By the time
the full reality of Vinnie’s relationship to Bernard is revealed, the three
people are inextricably linked by their ties to this complex, secretive, and
flawed father figure.
Joseph’s script is highly engaging, with a fine sense of
pacing and subtle humor that lends humanity to characters that are often less
than endearing. And yet, oddly, the most moving moments were entirely wordless
— when Vijay and Priya pack up the restaurant in silence.
The trio of actors have clearly developed a tightly wound
chemistry. While Djourabchi and Shah bristled with icy hostility, Lowe’s
earnest congeniality warmed the frigid atmosphere. The balance was
near-perfect, and a tenor of uncertainty kept the story’s resolution in doubt
at all times.
“The Lake Effect” is an intelligent, empathic look at
dysfunction and unlikely bonds, ultimately prescribing the rejection of anger
and the value of connection over pride and possessions. The fact that it is also
a play about American people of color makes it all the more relevant.
This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2017.
