Ensemble Theatre Company's 'Peerless' riffs on Shakespeare and ambition
The play, running July 8–19 at Jericho Arts Centre, pits twin sisters against U.S. college admissions in a dark comedy that echoes 'Macbeth.'
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Ensemble Theatre Company returns to its summer repertory festival this July at Jericho Arts Centre with two substantial plays, one of which — Jiehae Park's Peerless — uses Shakespeare's Macbeth as a springboard into the cutthroat world of American college admissions.
Peerless, directed by Keltie Forsyth, follows twin sisters M and L as they scheme for a coveted early admissions spot at "The College." When their clever plotting turns brutal and bloody, the play darkens into what Forsyth calls "dark comedy, satire, and psychological horror."
The festival, themed Bloodlines, pairs Peerless with Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Chris Lam. Both directors joined Ensemble as amateur artists nearly 10 years ago and now serve as co-artistic directors. They selected Peerless after using a sports-style bracket system to narrow down about 25 candidate works. Both plays confront similar structural themes: sisters, legacy, and making a life in a world that feels like it's crumbling.
When written in 2015 as a statement on affirmative action in the United States, Peerless felt pointed. For Forsyth, the themes remain extremely relevant. "What it exposes is the kind of boogeyman story that was weaponized to take down a system like affirmative action, which was flawed but really important," she said. The play runs in repertory with Streetcar from July 8 to 19, with a cast of mainly emerging actors.
