Sibling Rivalry and Resentment

Topdog/Underdog

The American Dream is a joke for many, especially if you’re a member of a minority. In this commanding production, moments of dark, adult comedy are offset by sudden, knee-jerk periods of violence in this 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Suzan-Lori Parks. The two-act play takes a deep, probing look at the sibling rivalry and resentment that’s been building and festering for years between two African American brothers. 

Lincoln (who likes to be called Link), works at an arcade, where he wears white face makeup and dresses in a black frock coat and stovepipe top hat, portraying Abraham Lincoln. Patrons pay to shoot blanks at Link while costumed as the 16th President. It is a most demeaning job and Link would love to give his two-week notice. Meanwhile, unemployed younger brother, Booth (who prefers the nickname Three-Card), has been practicing his brother’s money-making street gambling grift, called three-card monte. He’s been perfecting it in the one-room apartment that he shares with Link. Lincoln brings home the only weekly paycheck, which is divided between the rent, utilities, food and liquor. But old grudges from the past continue erupting and combining with new arguments from the present. All the while, the brothers incessantly tease, torment and insult each other until one of them cracks.

Through a series of scenes the audience learns that the brothers’ past together have been extremely difficult and challenging. They only had each other. Their parents never loved them and eventually abandoned the boys as teenagers, leaving them to fend for themselves. Before their parents ran off with new lovers, both brothers were each given five-hundred dollars, which they call their inheritance. Lincoln squandered his share almost immediately, while Booth hoarded his money in a stocking he’d hidden away. 

In the field of romance, Cookie, Lincoln’s estranged wife, dumped him when Link’s depression made her think that she was to blame for their failed marriage. Cookie then took revenge by sleeping with Link’s brother. Booth, however, is in love with Grace, his longtime lady friend. But, without a regular paying job he can’t give her the finer things in life that she thinks she deserves. So, when Booth isn’t in the apartment practicing his card routine, he spends his days shoplifting luxurious items to impress his woman.

When Link looses his job at the arcade, he returns to honing his talent as a curbside card shark. Polishing and perfecting his former skills makes Lincoln feel smug and truly alive once again. When Booth arranges a fancy, champagne dinner in the apartment for Grace, to whom he’s become engaged, things begin to fall apart. The tension and anger builds between the two brothers, fostered by disappointment, jealousy and insults. As the hours pass, the brothers one-up each other. Eventually their many years of rivalry and resentment come to a tragic head.

Steppenwolf Theatre launches its 51st season with a masterful revival of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, seen originally here in 2003, is brilliantly guided by the Tony and Obie Award-winning Broadway director, Kenny Leon. Having directed the more recent revival of this powerful play on Broadway, Mr. Leon once again employs his talent, expertise and past experience with the script in Chicago. Arnulfo Maldonado’s scenic design of the brothers’ bleak, sparsely furnished one-room apartment is flawless, as is Lee Fiskness’ moody and somber lighting design. And Mr. Leon’s accomplished cast includes two of Steppenwolf’s finest actors, who will probably be familiar faces to the theatre’s faithful audiences..

Together with Audrey Francis as co-Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre, Glenn Davis is one half of the topnotch cast of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG. Appearing in so many of the company’s finest productions, including PURPOSE, which went to Broadway, and the more recent, WINDFALL, Mr. Davis continually proves that he’s an incredibly naturalistic actor. In every production he makes playing his character look effortless. As a result, the theatergoer always believes in him. More importantly, the audience trusts everything he says, does and seems to feel when onstage. As older brother Lincoln, Glenn Davis once again gives a masterful, realistic and tragic performance that will undoubtedly be remembered at Awards time.

He’s matched by one of the most honest, multilayered and profound performances I’ve ever seen by this familiar actor at Steppenwolf. The wonderful Namir Smallwood (BUG,THE BOOK OF GRACE) portrays the younger brother, Booth, with a quiet intensity and a smoldering ferocity that builds gradually until the character can’t contain it any longer. TOPDOG/UNDERDOG is, at its core, a riff on the futility of the American Dream. Both Davis and Smallwood portray struggling, helpless victims of this false idealism. Namir is a master at usually underplaying his character’s emotional journey, and always to great effect. But in the role of Booth, this gifted actor can’t contain or control his rage and frustration any longer and the character finally releases the tiger inside.

After being given the names Lincoln and Booth, as a cruel joke by their parents, two adult African American brothers survive together, as best as they can. Always returning to their familiarity and expertise with a street game grift, called three-card monte, the years of hustle and grind only result in disappointment. For these young men, pursuing the American Dream ends in a bleak existence. Exquisitely guided and staged by Broadway director, Kenny Leon, and featuring a stellar cast that includes Glenn Davis and Namir Smallwood, Suzan Lori-Parks Pulitzer Prize-winning drama explodes to life on the Steppenwolf stage…as sibling rivalry and resentment come to a head. 

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented September 17-November 1 by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, in the Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling audience services at 312-335-1650 or by going to www.steppenwolf.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by going to www.theatreinchicago.com.

Photos by Michael Brosilow