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Theatre Review: Topdog / Underdog - Royal Court Theatre, London - Wednesday 6 August 2003
Reviewer: Ike Ikwuemesi
Suzan-Lori Parks' play Topdog/Underdog had received enough kudos on Broadway to make it across the Atlantic for a run
at the Royal Court Theatre. The play has just two actors; the laudable Jeffrey Wright and super-talented rapper Mos Def.
They respectively play the characters Lincoln and Booth, two underprivileged brothers with a volatile relationship.
Both lead unenviable lives: Lincoln (a former three card monte hustler) struggles to hold on to a "legit" job whilst Booth
wishes to emulate his older brother's former swindling lifestyle, during which he became known as the Topdog. Booth still
needs to learn "the tricks of the trade", but resents
his Underdog status, and in the meantime makes ends meet by
shoplifting.
With a passable general knowledge of American history (a prerequisite if one is to gain a multilateral perspective), the
symbolic character names allow one to deduce the ultimate outcome of this play. Their fate is further alluded to by their
"chosen" livelihoods. Their names were given to them by their father "as a
joke", who along with their mother abandoned them as infants. This rejection, which is handled by both differently, is
persistently a source of aching analysis.
The theatre was intimate enough to get a feeling of the play's energy, which is abundant thanks to the appropriate maturity
both actors bring to their characters, especially in the case of Wright. The sole setting is the seedily-furnished room
the brothers share. The dialogue is of an urban hustler vernacular, but it is not complicated enough to lose the
audience, who supply a generous amount of laughter thanks to the intermittent animated performances from both characters.
But the humour doesn't cover the pathos that is a constant undercurrent, and which manifests itself through their
rejection by their girlfriends, employer (in Lincoln's case), parents, and
to a certain extent their rejection of each other.
The play runs for over two hours with a break halfway through. The intermission marks the point where the story gathers
momentum. Unlike the first half – where the dialogue, although at times hilarious, did meander somewhat – the second half
buckles up for a more emotional discourse between the two. And, as feared, their predestined fates come into play.
Parks' play fortunately does not patronise the audience - something that could easily have happened considering the
purposefully foreboding nature of the characters' names. Wright lends his character a fine edge of involvedness
that is offset by the erratic energy of Mos Def's character. Whether Mos Def nails his character's motives is debatable but
the interchange between the two avoids dissolving into unintended pastiche by the calibre of Wright's acting.
Note: Topdog/Underdog runs from august 6 to August 30 2003.
RELATED LINKS:
Royal Court Theatre website
PUBLISHED: Tuesday 26 August 2003
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::: RELATED LINKS
Royal Court Theatre website
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