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Peer Reviews Topdog/Underdog Reviewed by Keith Waits Entire contents copyright © 2008, Keith Waits. All rights reserved.
Top/Underdog displays the difficulty of meeting a play for the first time that carries with it a somewhat large reputation: winning the Pulitzer Prize for drama (2002) after the much-lauded New York productions that featured big-name actors. One enters the Victor Jory Theatre at ATL with great anticipation. It is certainly a lively experience, mostly thanks to two talented actors who have a great time working the vivid, fast-paced dialogue. Don Guillory plays Lincoln and Stephen Tyrone Williams his younger brother, Booth. The two African-American men share a space in a run-down rooming house, living off of the salary Lincoln earns portraying Abraham Lincoln in a cheap sideshow shooting gallery. Booth pins his hopes on mastering the street hustle of 3-Card Monte, a skill his older brother had mastered to lucrative effect but quit to work a legitimate job. Abandoned by both of their parents at different times several years before, they now have only each other. The action of the play involves extensive revelations about their history, punctuated by confrontational episodes of 3-Card Monte wherein the brothers challenge each other with tragic result.
It is not a bad play, but some of the imagery and symbolism lack subtlety, and, although dysfunctional families and conflict between brothers have provided the foundation for potent drama dating back to Cain and Abel, Topdog/Underdog reminded me too often of Sam Shepard's truly great play, True West. Still, Ms. Parks writes terrific dialogue that must be catnip to actors, and Mr. Williams and Mr. Guillory fill the intimate space with energy and emotion that overcome any deficiencies the script may contain. Director Will MacAdams wisely stresses the dynamic between the two actors. The handsome production benefits also from the solid work of scenic designer Mikiko Suzuki Adams and costumer Susan Neason, with striking lighting effects from Brian J. Lilienthal. But I keep thinking about that Pulitzer Prize, and how that laurel gets attached to a good, but not great, play.
Topdog/Underdog Posted Jan. 19, 2008
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