Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Unususal conditions of the brain, by their dysfunction, shine a brighter light on normalcy. This is a premise ably advanced in Justin Warner's Impostors , now in performance as part of NEURO - fest, the brainchild of Edward Einhorn and the Untitled Theater Company#61.

As Impostors begins, Vincent, the elder son of the Caruso family has suffered a serious head injury. On returning home, he is certain that his parents have been replaced by near perfect doubles. This is a very funny dramatic invention, as Vincent compares his "real" parents to the faulty "fake" ones. However this delusion is a true symptom of a condition called Capgras' syndrome and the stakes in this farce are raised. The family, Italian, working class, Catholic, scrambles to restore to normal

thefamiliar habits, relations and rituals that they count on. They even bring in a longtime family friend who is -surprise - a noted neurologist - from Switzerland. But he was once the lover of the mother and may be the father of the younger son,Andrew.

Impostors has been firmly directed by Ari Laura Keith, heightening reality while teasing out the poignancy of contradictions and fictions that make up family life. Sherry Skinker and Nick Raio are splendid as the parents under seige. Lucas Steele is believable as the deluded Vincent and Anthony Bagnetto is winning as Andrew who is smarter, more sophisticated and really outshines other family members - he wants most to maintain the "constructive deceptions" that tie the family together.