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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Topdog/Underdog Also see Richard's reviews of Tempest in a Teapot and Trayf
And, like Beckett or Pinter, Parks' simple words and silences destroy even the closest relationships, the way wind or rain can whittle a mountain down to nothing. Gregory S. Carr directs the two and a half hour show (with intermission) into perfect briskness for Aquarian Rising Productions. And he sparks a flint-and-match intensity between his two actors on stage, Jaz Tucker and Jason Little. The brazen, bawdy dialog between the two Black brothers, a con-man and a thief, is no worse than the white scandal you'd read about in Chaucer, or seen in the paintings of Brueghel the Elder. Or in the lives of the most notorious white politicians in this present-day country. But the steady build-up of spine-tingling urban truths is deeply felt in this 2001 play, and it made Suzan-Lori Parks the first woman of color to win a Pulitzer Prize (in 2002). The show casts a great spell as a young man named Lincoln moves into a cramped apartment with his brother Booth, and their lives intertwine again as adults. It's shocking to watch, and somehow it ought to be totally wrong. But Link (the excellent Jason Little) first comes onstage smeared in white-face and dressed as our 16th president, after a day's work re-enacting the assassination of the Great Emancipator at a penny arcade. And it's starkly wild to hear him tell later of the pantomime shooting he has experienced multiple times a day, for pay, viewed upside down through a nearby reflection is the strangest possible hideous fabulous treat. Maybe it shouldn't be great, but it's so very odd. When I type it out I feel like I'm describing a lynching. But everything about it is a gnostic bible. For him, freedom from slavery has gone through a funhouse mirror. It's turned the concept into something wicked and bizarre. It's not a political show at all. But he is having a rough day. The very justifiably popular actor Jaz Tucker weaves a great tapestry of human emotion as Booth, his admiring but less bright younger brother. They have more than their share of mysteries and connivance, and Booth eagerly tries to impress Link throughout, until the ultimate disaster. I should probably stress that there is a lot of adult content. All their childhood recklessness and even the inexplicable abandonment of the boys by their parents are dug up–till we cringe at a stage filled with ghosts. The ending is shocking and inevitable. I guess I'll always have a great fondness for bare-bones theater, performed with intensity by passionate and professional actors and crew. This is exactly that, with the same occasional sound glitches or dubious light cues, but most importantly, a stage universe all its own–just like what I grew up on. The seats are hard pews, so be advised. Topdog/Underdog runs through September 29, 2024, at the Jefferson Avenue Mission, 2241 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit Aquarian Rising Productions on Facebook. Cast: Production Staff: |
