Lincoln took the arcade job after he quit as a professional three-card monte con artist, when his friend and confederate Lonny was shot, apparently during one of their cons.
It also harkens back to a time when Africans were put on literal display (which Parks dramatized in her 1998 play “Venus,” based on the historical figure of Saartjie Baartman, who was born in what is now South Africa, and brought to England in 1810 to be exhibited in freak shows as the Hottentot Venus.) But it’s a striking metaphor for much about American culture and society - our fascination with violence, for one, and the ways that Black men have had to demean themselves just to survive. And he’s grateful for the job worried he’ll be replaced by a wax dummy. Lincoln (portrayed by Hawkins) makes his living performing as Abraham Lincoln, in top hat, frock coat and whiteface, in an arcade where customers pay to shoot at him, recreating Lincoln’s assassination. There is little linear story here but daily life shot through with layer after layer of metaphor. The play is less a literal depiction of two down-and-out Black brothers than a smart, dark, often funny allegory, with subtle allusions to the Bible (Cain and Abel) and less subtle similarities to classic Theater of the Absurd. But, while Kenny Leon’s direction highlights some comic moments and drives home some poignant ones – and Lord knows neither American violence nor Black despair are out-of-date - there is little in the current production that feels urgent.Ī key to appreciating “Topdog/Underdog” is understanding that it was never really here and now. The anachronism of the card game is not all that felt dated about this “Topdog/Underdog.” Yes, in 2002, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and in 2018, it topped the New York Times theater critics’ list of the 25 Best American Plays of the previous 25 years. But three-card monte disappeared from city streets years ago.ĭoes this mean the play is a period piece? Not intentionally: The playbill for the first Broadway revival of “Topdog/Underdog,” which opened tonight at the John Golden Theater starring Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, tells us the setting is “here” and the time is “now.” In Suzan-Lori Parks’ twenty-year-old play, two brothers with the loaded names of Lincoln and Booth spend much of their time practicing, and arguing over, the card game that was once a ubiquitous sidewalk scam in New York City. Is “Topdog/Underdog” as outdated as the three-card monte that the play revolves around?
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