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).
