Review: TOPDOG/UNDERDOG at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Steppenwolf opens its 51st season with a blistering and captivating production of Suzan Lori-Parks’s Topdog/Underdog. This play has long been on my theater bucket list, and it’s absolutely what I think of when I think of a “Steppenwolf play”: A gritty family drama about brothers undergoing hard times, grappling with racial injustice and the fallacy of the American Dream. 

With direction by Kenny Leon, Steppenwolf Co-Artistic Director Glen Davis and Ensemble Member Namir Smallwood are dazzlingly suited to take on the roles of Lincoln and Booth. While they tell us their names are a joke by their parents, it’s also revealing of their sibling dynamic and their fates. Though American society at large may view them as insignificant and non-contributors to capitalism, Lincoln and Booth nonetheless feel pressured to constantly one up each other — though they may have few means to do so. 

The play opens with Booth (Smallwood) trying to become adept at 3-Card Monte in the hopes of starting up an illegal hustle on the street. Smallwood is deliciously earnest and fumbling as he attempts to learn the game. He’s far from a natural, though. And, as it turns out, Lincoln (Davis) is the real expert: He’s now retired from running a lucrative 3-Card Monte street game. Now, he’s taken on a bizarre gig that asks him to Don White face and a full Abraham Lincoln costume so visitors can shoot at him using a prop gun. While Booth seems to have no career aspirations whatsoever, Lincoln has the simple dream of a “Sit down job. With benefits.” And that’s part of the rub of Parks’s play: Lincoln dreams only of a modest corporate job so he can get by.

And though Booth has no income, he’s somehow the keeper of the grungy apartment the two brothers share. Lincoln brings home his measly $314 weekly paycheck so Booth can use it to create their lean budget. Booth’s primary talent appears to be shoplifting. 

And that’s where the darkly funny aspect of Parks’s text really comes in. Though Topdog/Underdog sounds grim, much of the dialogue — and many of Davis and Smallwood’s physical acting choices — are genuinely amusing. Parks has a knack for infusing humor as a way to cope with the grimness. And when Smallwood struts into the apartment with a veritable pile of stolen clothing hidden in layers under his bulky winter jacket, you have to laugh. 

Arnulfo Maldonado’s scenic design is detailed and drab. The small apartment space for Lincoln and Booth is depressing in its details, down to the massive pile of Booth’s adult magazines overflowing under the bed. Dede Ayite’s costumes are similarly striking. Justin Ellington’s sound design incorporates many Americana-feeling songs that feel deliberately at odds with the play (as well as music from many contemporary Black male musicians like Lupe Fiasco.) 

Ultimately, it’s dazzling to watch Davis and Smallwood spar (as I’d hoped it would be.) Their relationship comes to a head during the second act’s tragic conclusion. Davis and Smallwood both make fantastic work of some extended monologues. Parks’s script includes many scenes for both brothers, but also long solo moments that allow us to get in their heads. 

The play’s power also lies in the mysteries it leaves uncovered. We learn that Lincoln and Booth’s parents abandoned them at the ages of 16 and 11, respectively, but we never truly understand why. Nor do we have the full picture on how these two have miraculously survived since then, with only a $500 inheritance each.

Davis plays Lincoln as both confident and contemplative; he’s even-keeled and seems to “go with the flow,” though it’s clear he really aspires to that steady desk job. And when Davis has a go at that 3-Card Monte, it’s a thrill. Smallwood’s Booth appears more naive and simple at first; he seems almost sweet as he fumbles at the cards. And even his knack for shoplifting feels like a youthful way to bring some “income” into the household. But one of Smallwood’s greatest powers as an actor is turning that gentle interiority into something much more sinister and visceral on a dime. He does precisely that here, at the moment audiences discover Booth is not as innocent as he seems.

Davis and Smallwood play off each other magnificently as their rapport reflects constant shifts between camaraderie and oneup-manship. The tension between the brothers provides the central narrative tension in Topdog/Underdog. It’s clear the play is building somewhere, and when it reaches the climax, it’s a dark and fascinating battle between Lincoln and Booth. Topdog/Underdog feels classic Steppenwolf but also contemporary and gripping. 

Topdog/Underdog plays the Downstairs Theater at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 North Halsted, through November 1, 2026. Tickets are $20-$142.50. 

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