If you need a reminder of how lucky we are to live in one of the great theater cities, catch the exquisite, enthralling, earth-shattering Topdog/Underdog now onstage at Steppenwolf under the crackerjack direction of Kenny Leon, who also helmed the recent Broadway production.
The ending of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer-winning play is contained in the set-up: Brothers Lincoln and Booth live in a squalid SRO apartment; high above them on Arnulfo Maldonado’s ingenious set hangs a set of old-fashioned theater curtains. You see where this is going. But knowing the what and the how of the story frees us up to focus fully on the why.
And that’s where Glenn Davis and Namir Smallwood absolutely shine, providing an acting masterclass as they bring the brothers to vivid life and invest us in their complex relationship. They are survivors and there is a strong connection between them, but also an undercurrent of jealousy and even animosity.
Lincoln (Davis), in whiteface, portrays his namesake Honest Abe at an arcade where customers pay to mock-assassinate him. Booth (Smallwood) is a booster extraordinaire, able to smuggle two suits complete with shoes out of a department store, but he never quite measures up to his brother, a big-time three-card monte operator with slick patter to match his moves before he was spooked into retirement.
As the brothers bob and weave around each other, slinging barbs that transition from playful to lacerating, the tension ratchets higher. As we learn more about their pasts, the overwhelming sense of tragedy increases as well. Along the way, we have a chance to sit with what it is like to be abused, abandoned and oppressed in America.
Why is the arcade manager glad to have Lincoln play the president? He can pay him less because he’s Black. Once again, the ending is contained in the set-up.
Topdog/Underdog runs through Nov. 1 at Steppenwolf Theatre
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Michael Brosilow
