{"id":3716,"date":"2012-10-19T00:43:03","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T07:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=3716"},"modified":"2012-10-19T00:43:03","modified_gmt":"2012-10-19T07:43:03","slug":"marin-theatre-has-a-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/marin-theatre-has-a-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Marin Theatre has a winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOPDOG\/UNDERDOG<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Suzan-Lori Parks<\/p>\n

Directed by Timothy Douglas<\/p>\n

Starring Biko Eisen-Martin & Bowman Wright<\/p>\n

Being black is not a matter of pigmentation \u2013<\/p>\n

Being black is a reflection of a mental attitude.
\nSteven Biko<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Be prepared to be spellbound from the moment Biko Eisen-Martin walks on the Marin Theatre Company\u2019s stage until the climax of this disturbing, all too real drama, two and a half hours later. You will see and actually feel this story of two brothers barely scavenging their way uphill through one disappointment after another not because of their lack of ability or ambition, but because of what they are and what they have been.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Booth (Biko-Eisen Martin) is living in a one room tenement flat with no running water that his older brother Lincoln (Bowman Wright) is sharing with him because Lincoln\u2019s wife has thrown him out of his former home.\u00a0 Booth\u2019s is the only bed and Lincoln sleeps in a recliner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The brothers have managed to survive a rollercoaster childhood. They were abandoned by both parents two years apart; first their mother then their father. \u00a0Lincoln, at sixteen, was forced to watch out for Booth who was only 11 years old.\u00a0 Throughout this play, Lincoln continues to worry about his younger brother. He still feels responsible for Booth\u2019s well-being and he shields him from unpleasant truths.\u00a0 \u00a0He gives him the food he prefers, gives him money not just for rent and utilities but for special treats that Booth doesn\u2019t really need.\u00a0 Booth\u2019s talent is stealing and he is so light-fingered he can take any product from anywhere undetected.\u00a0 Lincoln\u2019s talent is dealing cards but he has given up that kind of life for a conventional one with a real job with benefits\u2026.and he isn\u2019t doing very well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His job is Impersonating Lincoln the day he was assassinated.\u00a0 He has to whiten his face to resemble the famous president \u00a0and he is being paid less than the going rate for his services because he is black.\u00a0 He swears he likes his job because it gives him time to think about things and compose songs in his head, but he is worried he is going to be replaced by a fabric dummy.\u00a0 The real reason Lincoln clings to the daily grind that is wearing him down is his determination to live the conventional way with a steady job, one where he isn\u2019t depending on his wits for fast cash.\u00a0 Before he started this job, he was a highly successful dealer in a Three Card Monte scam.\u00a0 Three Card Monte is a con game that no one can ever win.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The game is as much a performance as it is a contest that proves the hand is always quicker than the eye.\u00a0 Lincoln was so quick with his hands that he was the best on the street.\u00a0 He made more money than he could spend and he felt good about himself.\u00a0 His luck seemed eternal until his mark, Lonny, the man who starts the betting and keeps the game moving, was killed.\u00a0 In that moment, Lincoln saw the game for what it was and he knew he wanted no part of it.\u00a0 \u00a0Still, dealing is his special gift and he is proud of what he could do.\u00a0 \u201cLucky?\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cAint nothing lucky about cards.\u00a0 Cards aint luck.\u00a0 Cards is work. Cards is skill. Ain\u2019t never nothing lucky about cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Booth doesn\u2019t share his brother\u2019s sense of right and wrong and he is desperate to earn the kind of money his brother once did on the street. .\u00a0 He believes the two of them can start their own game and earn a living together.\u00a0 Booth is sure he can be a dealer because he is so quick and facile with his hands.\u00a0 He is so adept at stealing that he managed to get both them both new suits, a room divider, a blanket and food.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This play is dialogue driven and the plot takes its shape from the brothers\u2019 rapid fire conversation.\u00a0 The acting is beyond wonderful and the two men manage to make their characters loveable and very vulnerable.\u00a0 We know that they are trapped their life because of their color and because of the disruptive, chaotic childhood that prepared them for nothing but a desperate, frustrating fight to keep their heads above water.\u00a0 The author Suzan Lori Parks says \u201cThere is no such thing as THE Black Experience.\u00a0 That is there are many experiences of being Black which are included in the rubric\u2026.What can theatre do for us? We can tell it like it is, tell it as it was, tell it as it could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And in Top dog\/ Underdog that is just what she does, using rich and textured dialogue delivered with consummate skill by Martin and Wright.\u00a0 Make no mistake.\u00a0 This is not a play about being black.\u00a0 It is about being poor and underprivileged.\u00a0 It is about living on the edge of society, never feeling that your humanity gives you privilege.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This production sparkles and moves at so rapid a pace one cannot believe over two hours have passed since the play began. \u00a0\u00a0Timothy Douglas\u2019s direction is a masterpiece of movement and staging.\u00a0 The men co-ordinate their actions across the stage as if in a macabre dance.\u00a0 As their dialogue bounces off one another, we relive their hopes, their disappointments and we ache for them.\u00a0 We watch in terror as they deceive themselves and each other leading them both to their own inevitable destruction.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

I realize that I’m black, but I like to be viewed<\/p>\n

as a person, and this is everybody’s wish.
\nMichael Jordan<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Topdog\/Underdog continues through Oct. 28.<\/p>\n

Marin Theatre Company<\/a>, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.<\/p>\n

Tickets \u00a0$36-$57. (415) 388-5208. www.marintheatre.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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