A Lie of the Mind, Sam Shepard’s 1983 play about two families and the tragedy that binds them, is a sizzling 2.5 hours of solid acting, direction and pacing. At Raven Theatre, director Azar Kazemi creates a powerhouse production of a play that deserves more attention as a Shepard masterwork.
The tragedy—and the play’s title—refers to a brain injury suffered by Beth (Gloria Imseih Petrelli) after a beating by her husband Jake (Ian Maryfield), who’s beset by raging anger and other mental issues. It also refers to memory, the loss of memory and differences in people’s memories of the same events.
Jake is furious at Beth because she’s acting in a play where she’s part of a romantic couple; this drives Jake crazy. The play opens after the beating as Jake calls his brother Frankie (John Drea) from a highway payphone to tell him he thinks he killed Beth. Jake retreats from Montana, where Beth and her family live, to his family’s home in Southern California. Frankie tries to calm his brother down, tells him they need to find out how Beth really is, and ends up traveling to Montana himself, with unfortunate consequences.
Raven’s casting positions Beth and her family as Persian/Iranian immigrants. Her mother Meg (Joan Nahid) has a bit of an accent, but Beth and her brother Mike (Arash Fakhrabadi) do not. Her father, Baylor (Rom Barkhordar) is more of a mid-century man, a deer hunter and misogynistic husband, who demands that his wife wash his feet after his hunting expedition.
A program note explains that this casting of an immigrant family enables the play to deepen Shepard’s critique of the American dream, one that flows through all his plays. But the dialogue and character portrayals do not reflect that immigrant experience. In fact, the play stands on its own as a critique of the American dream in all its grandeur and failure.
Jake’s family is dominated by his mother Lorraine (Meighan Gerachis), who dotes on her son a bit too much, and his smart and sensible sister Sally (nicely played by Jocelyn Maher). His father is dead, something we learn more about as the play progresses.
The family stories simmer and change throughout the two acts, erupting in violence from time to time. Violence, simmering or outright, marks all Shepard’s plays.
While much of the play’s focus is on Beth and her parents, there are compelling scenes in both acts about Jake, Lorraine and Sally. For instance, in act one Jake tells his mother about what he remembers of his father’s last moments while in act two Sally tells her mother the full story about how their father died, dead drunk, on a road in Mexico.
Director Kazemi has created a production worthy of Shepard’s script, with solid acting by all the performers. The play alternates scenes between the two family homes on a smartly designed bi-level set that works well on Raven’s wide mainstage. Set design is by Lauren M. Nichols with construction by the Northlight Scene Shop. Liz Gomez’s lighting design adds drama to every scene. Costume design is by Sally Dolembo. Jean E. Compton is stage manager.
Music has a notable impact in A Lie of the Mind, beginning with the playlist that we hear before the opening, and musical themes that open and close the acts. When Shepard directed the 1983 production, he wanted a soundscape of traditional music, “music with an American backbone.” He was able to bring the Red Clay Ramblers, a bluegrass group from North Carolina, to play a live score. In the Raven Theatre production, the dramaturgs developed a special playlist made up of 24 tracks by musicians of several eras and genres, beginning with “Smoke Detector” by The National. Other tracks range from Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash and Lead Belly to Tom Waits, Sara Bareilles, Radiohead and Neko Case.
A Lie of the Mind hasn’t been staged very often in Chicago. The last production, I believe, was Strawdog Theatre’s in 2007. (I saw it in 2014 at Trinity Repertory in Providence, Rhode Island.) The play is a masterwork of family emotions and recriminations and belongs solidly in Shepard’s quintet of family dramas that have been produced more often—such as True West, Buried Child and Curse of the Starving Class. Fool for Love, now on stage at Steppenwolf Theatre, belongs in that auspicious category too.
A Lie of the Mind continues at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., through March 22. Running time is 2.75 hours with one intermission. Tickets are $45 (discounts available) for performances Thursday-Sunday.
For more information on this and other productions, see theatreinchicago.com.
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