Sister

Sister, by Mario Fratti, depicts the strains of an Italian family in which a teenage son, wise beyond his years, lives uneasily with his 59 year-old mother and his thirty-something sister. The boy is blessed with a professorial vocabulary and cursed with a judgmental mind. He resents his sister’s desperate relationships with men, accuses her of promiscuity and responds self-righteously to his mother’s queries about his own relations with women. The play starts off like an indictment of male machismo and double-standards with a Strindbergian touch. Then, in typical Fratti style, the play turns on its heel. Shocking, mysterious secrets are revealed. The boy’s arrogance gives way to humility and greater understanding. Pamela Billig directs.