![\"\"](\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Motherf-r1.jpg\")
<\/a>Jackie (Gabriel Marin) and Veronica (Isabelle Ortega) get violent in \u201cMotherf—-r with the Hat.\u201d Photo: Jessica Palopoli.<\/p><\/div>\n
My hat\u2019s off to \u201cMotherf—-r with the Hat.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s off to the comic drama for having the most immoderate theatrical title in years, one that may cause scores of potential ticketholders to stay home \u2014 even in liberal, liberated San Francisco, Marin County and vicinity.But my hat\u2019s also off to playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis and director Bill English.<\/p>\n
They instilled \u201cMotherf—-r\u201d with a throbbing energy, kept my attention with verbal fireworks that relentlessly took apart lies and liars, and overlaid gobs of humor onto the often painful words of people trapped in lower socio-economic hookups.<\/p>\n
\u201cMotherf—-r\u201d also provided a shrewd look at sub-cultures \u2014 12-step programs, for example, and the easy availability of guns and bats to vent rage.It didn\u2019t take long, however, to know this was no nursery rhyme for Rotary Club attendees \u2014 the opening scene finds Veronica (Isabelle Ortega) snorting cocaine and swearing like a longshoreman.<\/p>\n
It also didn\u2019t take long to know the 100-minute, intermission-less show was going to have an undercurrent of poignancy: Jackie (Gabriel Marin), smalltime drug dealer and parolee who\u2019d spent two years in prison, barges in to hand the woman he\u2019s adored since eighth grade a bouquet of flowers, a chocolate bar, a Lotto ticket, a stuffed animal, tickets to a movie, and news that he\u2019s found a job.<\/p>\n
Almost instantly, though, he finds the fedora featured in the title, along with other signs she\u2019s been cheating.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019re off to what rapidly descends into a sexual roundelay, a comic romp and a semi-tragic snapshot of star-crossed lovers.<\/p>\n
Actors in supporting roles \u2014 Carl Lumbly as Ralph, Jackie\u2019s drug-counselor, and Margo Hall as Victoria, Carl\u2019s angry wife \u2014 helpfully wear their characters like second skins.Yet Rudy Guerrero (Cousin Julio) is the consistent show-stopper. He\u2019s over-the-top funny, especially when embroidering a macho Jean-Claude Van Damme persona onto his meek hairdresser gayness.<\/p>\n
From time to time, there\u2019s an all-too-familiar quality to the characters (despite Guirgis claiming Jackie hits multiple points of autobiography). But the persistent twists and turns of the plot lead them into fresh if depleted places.<\/p>\n
And although chunks of the dialogue seem uninspired, others are dazzling. Frequently, in fact, individual lines become perfect permutations of what Guirgis apparently was striving for:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cMy wife is the reincarnation of Benito Mussolini.\u201d\u2022 \u201cDon\u2019t underestimate my capacity for violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cYou think you\u2019re the only motherf—-r who\u2019s hurting here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cThe real world largely sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cNo point in killing the messenger if you\u2019re not gonna absorb the message.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cI love loving.\u201dParticular praise is due Lynne Soffer, the dialect coach. Accents are consistently real \u2014 as, for the most part, are the five characters Guirgis invented.<\/p>\n
Sure, the recognizable Puerto Rican and black types in this production \u2014 being presented here in association with the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre \u2014 do now and then veer into the underbrush of soap opera and caricature. At their best, however, they offer perspectives on the quest for hope, for love and trust, for forgiveness.The 2011 Broadway production of \u201cMotherf—-r\u201d was nominated for half a dozen Tony Awards. Chris Rock did a star turn (as did Bobby Cannavale), which made that production a little larger than life.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the intimacy of the 300-seat SFPlayhouse, with seats only nine rows deep, almost puts you onstage right in the middle of the action.<\/p>\n
And that, when it works, can be captivating.\u201cMotherf—-r with the Hat\u201d plays at the San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco (second floor, Kensington Park Hotel), through March 16. Night performances, 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Matinees, 3 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets $30-$70. Information: (415) 677-9596 or www.sfplayhouse.org<\/a>.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My hat\u2019s off to \u201cMotherf—-r with the Hat.\u201d It\u2019s off to the comic drama for having the most immoderate theatrical title in years, one that may cause scores of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"