The temperatures may have been autumnal outside on Thursday night, but it's a good thing the Two River Theater air conditioning was going full blast, because the dramatic tension in the troupe's production of Suzan-Lori Parks' drama, Topdog/Underdog sizzles so intensely that an audience member could be incinerated! And that the current version of the play has been directed by the playwright herself and stars two real-life brothers makes the experience all the more powerful. (Above, Brandon J. Dirden as Linc and Jason Dirden as Booth. Photo by T. Charles Erickson)
The positions of Topdog or Underdog change from minute to minute in Parks’ examination of the intense sibling rivalry between the “brothers” Lincoln and Booth, two real brothers named after two famous white men as a joke by their alcoholic father, and the relationship between the con man of a “Three Card Monte” game and his “mark,” a game familiar to both men. Over the course of four days, Linc and Booth switch the roles of red card (“the loser”) and deuce of spades (“the winner”) as they fight and make up, hurl insults at each other, recall their abusive childhood—in general, behave like the eleven- and sixteen-year-olds they still are inside, but with tragic results.
That things should have come to a not-so-pretty pass is unsurprising, given the boys’ dismal background. The offspring of parents whose demons “wouldn’t let ‘em be,” Lincoln and Booth are unable to exorcise their own bad spirits. And abandoned because, as Booth sees it, their parents “liked something better than [their own sons]," the baggage these two carry is cumbersome—and deadly.
To explain the shifting relativism of who’s on top, consider this: Is Lincoln the “topdog” because he studied hard in school, was once married and has renounced gambling to hold down a steady, if demeaning, job? Is Booth the “underdog” because he spends his days masturbating, shop-lifting, mooning about his elusive “fiancée” Grace and practicing his Three Card Monte moves with an eye to getting into the con game? Or is Booth the “topdog” because he’s saved the $500 his departing mother gave him while Linc has been profligate with a similar “inheritance” given to him by his father before he left?
When it turns out that Linc’s “job” involves putting on white face, a fake beard, a frock coat and a top hat to impersonate Abe Lincoln at an amusement arcade where patrons pay to shoot him (Above, left), and that his wife Cookie has left him, but not before having a fling with Booth, one wonders who’s on top. The competition is so fierce between these two that they even try to one-up each other with accounts of watching their parents’ sexual infidelities; Linc even got to participate. That’s how sick this gets.
Suzan-Lori Parks' obvious affection and familiarity (from the inside out!) with the script makes her direction all the more fluid yet steady, as the drama marches inexorably to its sad dénouement. Christopher Akerlind's evocative set telegraphs the emptiness of life and the poverty of spirit experienced by Linc and Booth; it has no plumbing (although the pipes stick out of the wall), one bed and a ratty recliner, and no table on which the two young man can share a meal. The wallpaper is peeling and the overhead light bulb casts a glaring light.
Thu, it is in these squalid surroundings that, over a period of four days, the two brothers, so powerfully portrayed by Brandon J. Dirden and his real-life brother Jason, spar, reminisce, taunt and finally come to violence. With nary a false note in their performances, the two recite the foul-mouthed dialogue naturally and convincingly, and manipulate the audience’s shifting sympathies for each character until the final scene leaves the onlookers spent. As Booth, Jason jive talks, dances and dreams incessantly. Obsessed with the street con card game, he's a whirling dervish of energy. Just imagine if he channeled that energy into something productive! Brandon's Linc is the perfect foil: sober, steady, resolute in his decision to swear off the cards and lead a straight-arrow life. His glee, however, at having pulled off a winning Three Card Monte game shows us just how tenuous is that resolve. (Above: Linc and Booth strut around in the suits Linc has “boosted” from a department store. Photo by T. Charles Erickson)
Production values are superb. Brendan Connelly's choice of rap and jive music brings the play up to date, and ESosa's costumes further chronicle the vicissitudes of the brothers' desperate lives.
With its adult language and themes, Topdog/Underdog is a play for mature audiences interested in serious themes tackled by a gifted playwright and complicated characters portrayed by brilliant actors. The probing intensity of the latter and the unblinking courage of the former are clear evidence why Topdog/Underdog was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. If you miss this production, you’ll be sorry you did.
Topdog/Underdog will be performed through September 30 at the Rechnitz Theater, Two River Theater Company, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank. For information and tickets, call the box office at 732.345.1400 or visit www.trtc.org .
