It’s
such an obvious crowd-pleaser, it’s hard to believe the National Rifle
Association hasn’t yet sponsored it: a shooting gallery where people can
recreate the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
In Top Dog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks,
now at the None Too Fragile Theater, that bizarre bit of interactive amusement
is at the core of this two-brother drama. The African-American bros, named
Lincoln and Booth by their father as a joke, are frozen in a world composed of
lies and dreams.
And
this production, directed by Sean Derry, generates laughs even as you see the
two men sinking under the weight of their own misperceptions.
Lincoln
spends his days working at playing Honest Abe, in a stovepipe hat and
whiteface, while customers plug him with their fake guns. Lincoln (the man, not
the President) used to be a master of the three-card monte street hustle, but
now his brother Booth wants that gig. Trouble is, Booth is a better common
thief than he is a card trickster, and he wants Lincoln to show him the
three-card monte ropes.
Confined
in Booth’s small, no-efficiency apartment (sans bathroom or running water) the
confrontationally-named siblings chafe against each other in frequently comical
ways. But there is always a current of anger and resentment beneath their
actions, the familial source of which is brought out in Act Two.
Although Parks' script (a Pulitzer Prize winner) is long and repetitive, the two excellent
actors on stage often make it sing believably. Brian Kenneth Armour moves slow
and easy, but each of his movements is laden with intent. So the audience
quickly learns to fear what might happen when he gets too agitated.
As
Lincoln, Robert Grant III is an endearing fellow, wearing his scraggly fake
beard and honestly trying to improve his performance so he can keep his “job
with benefits.” But when he shows his brother some real card shuffling skills, Booth
realizes his dream of mastering that con game, like his dream of reuniting with
his girlfriend Grace, is totally illusory.
Together,
Grant and Armour spin a web of iron that leaves neither any escape. And even
though there are long stretches when the pace could be picked up a bit,
the performers keep you riveted until the inevitable but shocking conclusion.
Sure,
this play could be done in a shorter time than this production’s almost
three-hour run time with one intermission. But then, you’d spend less time in
the company of these two magnificently flawed and doomed characters. And that
would be a shame.
Top
Dog/Underdog
Through
November 29 at None Too Fragile Theater,
1835
Merriman Road, Akron (enter through Pub Bricco), nonetoofragile.com, 330-671-4563.
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