A patron saint of pain looms over Stephen Karam’s garlanded 2011 tragicomedy. Its family of Lebanese American men speak of St Rafka, canonised in the Maronite Christian faith for her suffering, and a metaphorical figure in this play.
We are in Nazareth – rural Pennsylvania – and every member of the Douaihy household seems pained. At the centre is Joseph (Irfan Shamji), a poor, gay scion of the writer Kahlil Gibran’s family. Joseph has a mysterious illness and is struggling to raise the cost of his healthcare. He and his brother (Eric Sirakian) are grieving the sudden death of their father, as is their ageing, obstreperous uncle (Raad Rawi).
Directed by Bijan Sheibani, there is humorous repartee and some sparks of searing darkness but the comic timing sometimes feels off, and too much is stuffed in the script with not enough energy on stage to bring it to life. This makes it hard to keep emotionally invested in the lives of the characters.
The plot around the father’s car accident – the result of a roadside college prank – is based on a real-life case in which an Ohio judge allowed two high school footballers to continue playing for their team despite the consequences of their prank. There is one footballer here, Vin (Raphael Akuwudike), who feels like too much of a cipher and the storyline seems crammed in when the entire play could have focused on it alone.
Another strand involves Joe’s narcissist boss, Gloria (Juliet Cowan), a publisher who questions where Joseph is really from in the style of Lady Hussey and then blackmails him into writing a memoir. Through her the issue of packaging and selling personal pain is played out but this is not given enough room to come alive either.
Some moments pack punches, such as Joseph’s medical insurance emergencies and his connection with a gay news reporter, Timothy (Jack Holden), although intimacies between them are shared too abruptly on their first meeting. The script is full of funny lines but something gets lost in the delivery. Characters talk over each other too and the dramatic effect of their words gets swallowed up.
Sons of the Prophet predates Karam’s 2014 hit The Humans which was adapted into a fantastic film. This has all the makings of a potential film too: its intimacy, its discretely titled strands (such as On Pain and On Work) and its quirky humour which feels distinctly American. But as it stands, it is oddly diffuse on stage.
At Hampstead theatre, London, until 14 January
