The Brothers Paranormal
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
East West Players
Through December 11
RECOMMENDED
Everyone knows that a good ghost story needs to be scary, but to be a great ghost story, it needs to move its audience as well. Where would The Sixth Sense be without the Bruce Willis character slowly realizing his fate or The Haunting of Hill House be without poor, doomed Eleanor? There have to be emotional stakes for the viewers to walk out of the theater haunted. Playwright Prince Gomolvilas understands this, and his play The Brothers Paranormal is as affecting as it is spooky. The L.A. premiere of the show at East West Players is superb, and expertly delivers all the scares and surprises that the bigger budgeted and more advertised supernatural production currently at the Ahmanson, 2:22, attempts but can’t quite achieve.
Brothers Max (David Huynh) and Visarut (Roy Vongtama) are sharing a home with their mother, Tasanee (Emily Kuroda), the latter two getting over mental issues or substance abuse. In an attempt to fix the family’s financial problems, Max has started a paranormal business with his sibling, purporting to debunk or solve any ghost-related difficulties. The fact that Max doesn’t believe in ghosts isn’t an issue; Visarut does and is the technical expert. They get their first paying job when Delia (Tamika Simpkins) and her husband Felix (Jasper Howard) hire them to get rid of a female Asian ghost that only Delia sees in their apartment. Max feels slightly guilty taking advantage of someone he’s sure is just delusional, but soon realizes he’s adrift in deeper, more treacherous waters than he ever imagined.
Huynh is convincing and amusing in portraying Max’s façade of smartass disbelief, but he’s even better at conveying moments of powerful revelation. Vongtama brings a feeling of quiet dignity to the less vocal Visarut, and his handling of a scene in which he gently encourages someone in crisis is very effective. Kuroda is charming as Tasanee, chiding but always supporting Max. Simpkins has a lot of the heavy lifting to do, acting-wise, as the one person who sees the ghost, but she manifestly has the talent to pull it off, demonstrating the sheer terror her character is experiencing. Finally, Howard is terrific as Felix, just as good in monologues about jazz performances as he is when passionately defending his wife.
Director Jeff Liu does an impressive job of balancing the dramatic needs of the play with the visceral requirements for a ghost story, and he has at least a couple of theatrical set pieces in which he pulls out all the stops in very satisfying fashion. John Iacovelli’s scenic design is ingenious in ways I can’t go into here, ably abetted by Brian Gale’s lighting and Da Xu’s sound designs. One of the wonders of Gomolvilas’s play is that it would still be compelling and interesting if you removed the supernatural element from it, which is a rare feat that only films such as Hereditary could claim. His dialogue is sharp and funny, his characters are vivid and complex, and when the paranormal makes its presence known, nobody in the play remains unchanged.
David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 Judge John Aiso Street., Los Angeles; Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; through December 11. www.eastwestplayers.org. Running time: two hours with one intermission.
