![]() ![]() Lincoln who ironically works at a carnival arcade as an Abraham Lincoln in white face dressed in frock coat, stovepipe hat and the requisite beard sitting as if watching a play while customers attempt to shoot him with blanks, brings home his weekly salary, while Booth appears to be a hustler who shoplifts for a living. Set in a shabby SRO boarding house with the bathroom down the hall, the play introduces us to Booth and three years older brother Lincoln (their names were their father’s joke) who are sharing Booth’s space since Lincoln’s wife Cookie kicked him out. Parks’ play suggests early Eugene O’Neill in its depiction of life in the lower depths and its use of the vernacular. Under the astute but leisurely direction of Kenny Leon (Tony Award Best Revivals of A Soldier’s Play, A Raisin in the Sun and Fences), rising stars Corey Hawkins (Tony nominated for Six Degrees of Separation, and appearances in the film versions of In the Heights and The Tragedy of Macbeth) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Emmy Award winner for HBO’s Watchmen as well as ensemble awards to the cast of The Trial of the Chicago 7) give riveted performances in this two-hander. The 20th anniversary revival of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Topdog/Underdog, is just as powerful and absorbing as before with its story of two African American brothers Booth and Lincoln who are searching for the American Dream in opposite ways. ![]()
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