"Topdog/Underdog" comes to the Sycamore Rouge stage with a strong résumé. The work earned Suzan-Lori Parks the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama awarded to an African-American woman. On Broadway, actor Don Cheadle and rapper Mos Def have performed the role of Booth. Director KB Saine has made an effort to invest in challenging plays that have the potential to reach a wide audience.
Part of the 2012 Acts of Faith Festival of plays that address real issues and ask hard questions, "Topdog/Underdog" is a story about two brothers whose father jokingly named them Lincoln and Booth, unwittingly setting into motion a deadly rivalry that would have far-reaching effects.
Delvin Young and Ronnie Brown are the gifted actors who tackle the raw dialogue and sometimes elusive dark comedy of Parks' script. On opening night, both seemed to take time to warm to their roles, making the first act, at 1 hour 15 minutes, seem interminably long and, unfortunately, making it difficult to generate the empathy that would make us care about what happens to them.
Older brother Lincoln (Young) is down on his luck, having been kicked out by the unseen Cookie. He earns a living dressing as Abe Lincoln in an arcade, where he sits in a chair and gets shot daily by tourists. Furthermore, he is on a self-imposed restriction from his former life of hustling. In the past, he was apparently a talented three-card monte game hustler.
Younger brother Booth (Brown) has reluctantly taken Lincoln into his tiny apartment only to reveal his ultimate agenda is to take over what his brother left behind. Brown is alternately — sometimes simultaneously — charming and aggressive, while Young makes a good show of stumbling around in an alcoholic fog.
The issues are real — as is the pain — but for me, the chemistry just wasn't there, and the brothers failed to connect as they should, so while the second act was more powerful and compelling, the shocking ending appeared disconnected from the whole.
"Topdog/Underdog" runs through March 11, with talk-back discussions scheduled to follow the performances on Sunday ("The Black Male in Contemporary America") and March 4 (to be led by a local faith leader).
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