I’ve wanted to see Topdog/Underdog since Suzan-Lori Parks shattered the
opaque white glass ceiling and won a Pulitzer Prize for it in 2002 – a fucking
triumph. I lived in Brooklyn at the time and I remember Mos Def played Booth
when the show moved to Broadway (replacing Don Cheadle, while Jeffrey Wright
continued on as Lincoln), but I wasn’t in the Broadway ticket buying echelon. The
show won a Tony award in 2023 for Best Revival of a Play and a cursory internet
search reveals recent productions around the country.
The set is a one room apartment without running water and a bathroom
somewhere in the building. The characters are two black American brothers
named Booth (Gregory Fenner) and Lincoln (Martel Manning) by their father
because he thought it was funny. Lincoln’s first entrance onstage is haunting. He
appears in literal white face wearing a long wool coat, a top hat, and a fake beard.
Lincoln watches his brother, Booth (who’s had the audience in thrall for quite
some time), and doesn’t speak until Booth sees him. It’s not until Lincoln starts
taking his whiteface makeup off that the otherworldly quality starts to fade. He
only takes it off halfway, though, because Lincoln is a haunted man – haunted by
poverty, abandonment, sexual trauma, and grief. Haunted by his honest, sit-down
job with benefits and a dark side. A job that would pay him more money if he was
white. A job that pays him a pittance compared to the Benjamins he used to make
with his Three-card Monte hustle, when he was at the top of his game.
Booth, in contrast, is full of bravado and idealism – idolizing his brother’s
talent for sleight of hand, yet unable to admit he can’t emulate it. Booth relies on
his skill for theft, his brother’s income, and romantic validation from women,
seemingly less affected by the trauma history he shares with his brother.
Circumstances change. Failure strikes. Topdogs become underdogs,
underdogs become topdogs - the characters weave in and out of these roles - and
yet they are underdogs the whole time, fighting for scraps. Everyone loves an
underdog story - the bootstrap mythology tightly woven into North American
perceived history, but no one actually likes being an underdog. Cruelty and
violence emerge, as they always have, as they often do, as they have been
learned and passed down through generations.
As per The Gift Theatre’s press release, this production “has been a dream
project with roles ensemble members Martel Manning and Gregory Fenner have
wanted to play for years.” It’s truly a gift when actors connect deeply with their
source material and the proof abounds in spades onstage. Stand-outs were
Fenner’s infectious, raw, vibrancy, and I won’t forget a particularly charged
expression on Manning’s face – a pure foreshadow tableau of a broken man (cue
St. Vincent’s song of the same name). Their roles require fierce commitment,
razor focus, and endurance – an acting marathon, with chameleon-like changes in
tone and emotion. When the audience gave them a standing ovation, I could see
the exhaustion and relief in their faces, juxtaposed with well-deserved pride and
joy.
It’s not an easy play to digest, but it is a masterful one, and the heavy
themes are laced with laugh-out-loud moments throughout. In the long-held
tradition of Chicago storefront theater, the production is top notch, no faults to
be found except one’s own in how willing you are to take it in and bear witness.
Topdog/Underdog is playing at Filament Theatre Thursdays through Saturdays at
7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m through October 20 th . There will be an audio
described performance on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and an understudy
performance Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at
For more reviews go to https://www.theatreinchicago.com
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