New England Review: "Topdog/Underdog" Bares Teeth at New Rep

"Topdog/Underdog"

Written by Suzan-Lori Parks, Directed by Kent Gash, Set Designed by Eugene Lee, Costumes Designed by Alvin Perry, Lights Designed by Liz Lee, Music Composed by Justin Ellington, Sound Designed by Clay Benning

Diamonds Cast:
Booth, Kes Khemnu
Lincoln, Joe Wilson, Jr.

Clubs Cast:
Booth, Joe Wilson, Jr.
Lincoln, Kes Khemnu

Performances: Now thru March 27 at New Repertory Theatre, Newton, MA
Box Office: 617-332-1646 or www.newrep.org

The role-switching cast of "Top Dog/Underdog" has taken up residence at the New Repertory Theatre in Newton, Mass., for the final leg of its three-city tour. The following reprinted review is based on a performance seen at the Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence, RI.

To those audience members planning to see the New Rep's current production of "Topdog/Underdog" twice in order to experience the offbeat casting that has the two actors swap roles on alternate nights, don't try to compare performances or keep score. Just give yourselves over to the subtle but distinct differences in interpretation that the very talented Kes Khemnu and Joe Wilson, Jr. bring to their characters, and feel doubly enriched.

"Topdog/Underdog" is Suzan-Lori Parks' searing 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning play that pits brothers Booth and Lincoln (foreshadowing intended) against each other in a battle for filial supremacy. Locked in a desperate interdependency for each other's affection and respect, these two proud but downtrodden black men turn their distorted sibling rivalry into the ultimate power struggle.

Booth is the younger hero worshipper who wants very much to learn his brother's skills as a street-hustling three-card monte thrower. Lincoln – who has traded in his lucrative but dangerous gambling scam for a safe, sit-down job as, of all things, an "Honest Abe" Lincoln impersonator in an arcade shooting gallery – resists his brother's pleadings in order to avoid being seduced back into the game. This conflict of needs sets off a seesaw battle for position as top dog that, as tension mounts, sees the men fight over money, women, work, sexual prowess, and whatever meager scraps of parental love they can salvage from their painful past.

Actors Khemnu and Wilson give us immensely likable and sympathetic brothers whose love-hate relationship is palpable. Their seamless, fluid, and completely natural delivery of Parks' colorful and animated dialogue defines the humor, affection, dreams, and buried rage of two very different but hopelessly entwined individuals. Both actors weave the essential narrative elements of the play into their conversations as effortlessly as Parks has written them. They are as comfortable with ribald adolescent name calling as they are with the rapid-fire hustler's patter that accompanies their dexterous card throwing.

Literally and figuratively caged in by set designer Eugene Lee's wire fencing that surrounds Booth and Lincoln's shared one-room basement apartment, Khemnu and Wilson maneuver about the stage in the unconscious dance of two people who have experienced every bit of their trapped lives together. They spar, tease, shout, cajole, drink, reminisce, and frequently demoralize each other, transforming from best friends to worst enemies the moment one pushes an emasculating button in the other. Their role switching as actors has perhaps enabled them to get so thoroughly into – and under – each other's skin as characters that their actions and responses seem instinctual. Both performances, both nights, are at once poetic, painful and penetrating.

Pick the diamonds cast, pick a winner. Pick the clubs cast, pick a winner. Miss the final leg of this explosive drama's three-state tour, you're a loser.

 

Photos: Kes Khemnu (left) as Booth and Joe Wilson, Jr. as Lincoln in the "Diamonds" cast of Topdog/Underdog (photos by Christopher Oquendo)

 

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