Gene and Joellen have a marriage on tenterhooks. He’s a devout and uptight Christian trying to do what he believes God wants; she’s questioning and adrift, wondering why they haven’t had sex in eight years.

The tension between them is especially exacerbated at the moment because Gene’s trying to help his dying sister, drug-addicted and homeless for decades and now in the final stages of AIDS.

Suddenly, they get guests — Gene’s long-estranged brother Ronnie and wife Susie. Ronnie bothered to locate Gene only after an uncle told him the news about his sister. The brothers’ heated exchanges show they detest each other, and Ronnie wants to go to a motel. But Joellen, for more reasons than hospitality, wants the visitors to stay, and Gene reluctantly agrees

John Polak and Susan Hammons

Courtesy of Ion Theatre

The subsequent conflicts, and the couples’ conflicted feelings, form the substance of Mark Roberts’ Parasite Drag, getting its West Coast debut at Ion Theatre’s BLKBOX site, Sixth and Pennsylvania. It’s an old story — brothers who are so unlike they seem from different parents — and its climactic revelations won’t surprise anyone who’s been paying attention. But Roberts has created four indelible characters and has a talent for guffaw lines, so the essentially depressing plot gets lightened. And the ending contains glimmers of hope for relationships based on new self-knowledge.

The play starts with Gene (Andy Collins) and Joellen (Susan Hammons) bickering after a confrontation that turned physical, and appears to be a depiction of an unhappy union between a whiny husband and frustrated wife. Then, like the tornados that repeatedly threaten the couple’s Illinois home, Ronnie (John Polak) and Susie (Kim Strassburger) blow in. And all the emotions, good and bad, get kicked up a notch.

Polak, particularly, is a force of nature in director Glenn Paris’s quality cast. Whether Ronnie is humorously, profanely and descriptively complaining about his hemorrhoids, or screamingly and angrily recalling his hurtful memories of their dead father, Polak is riveting. In the many arguments with his brother, Polak’s fiery eyes and snorting breathing give Ronnie a fury that is palpable.

Strassburger, too, makes Susie memorable, especially with her precisely emphasized delivery of some of Roberts’ funniest lines. Susie’s the most stable of this foursome, and Strassburger captures her folksy wisdom and warmth.

Hammons projects Joellen’s quiet desperation, and Collins, after a tepid start, rises to the demands of Gene’s final breakdown, with his reserved certainty about life and his beliefs gone. One quibble, though. If the brothers were raised together, wouldn’t they have similar accents. Polak’s southern is nowhere near Collins’ Midwestern.

Roberts also includes an amusing sex scene that borders on gratuitous, although it carries enlightenment about the participants.

Praiseworthy tech work abounds. Sound designer Joe Huppert, assisted by Melanie Chen, creates such a good rain effect that, when leaving the theater, you expect the ground to be wet. Claudio Raygoza’s lighting is helpful throughout, particularly dramatic in the slow fades that close scenes. JR Bruce’s set tells the story, with a tidy living area amid a backdrop of gray and gathering clouds, and Linda Libby’s costumes classify the characters, from Gene’s buttoned-down look to Joellen’s don’t-care-anymore casualness. Libby’s makeup also gives Gene an authentic-looking black eye.

Oh, the title? It’s symbolic and it’s explained.

Cast and credits