By Freddy Puza~

Friends. Work. Family. No matter the social dynamic, everybody somehow plays a role in the perpetual grab for power at some time or another. We either defend it, fight to get it or merely try to steer clear of it. The play, Topdog/Underdog, by Suzan Lori-Parks, tells the story of two brothers, Lincoln and Booth, who struggle to top the other as they desperately try to establish their individual identities amidst the ruins of their shared past.

The entire play takes place in Booth’s cramped single apartment. Lincoln is staying with him as he tries to get back on his feet after leaving a career as a card hustler in a street con game, the three-card monte. He takes up a job as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator at a local arcade which he feels is honest work. Booth wants Lincoln to teach him the tricks of the trade and for the two brothers to get back into card hustling together, but Lincoln wants nothing to do with his plan. The result is a disastrous downward spiral into despair.

In aerial warfare, a dogfight is a form of swift, maneuvering combat between aircraft, where each side is aware of the other’s presence. In Topdog/Underdog, Lincoln and Booth engage in a similar strategy, however, they use quick maneuvering of language that is often violent and aimed at gaining control of the other. Moments after the play has begun, Lincoln, played by A.K. Murthada, and Booth, played by M.D. Walton, are in each other’s faces in a heated argument in the center of the stage. The actors are superb is this verbal warfare. The audience couldn’t help but feel the love and the hate these two men had for one another. Their energy came off as raw emotions that couldn’t be controlled. It was exhilarating to share the space with them in the theater. After their exchanges, the brothers would return to their respective spaces in the apartment. It was almost as if Director Marty Papazian staged it as a symbolic boxing match. The brothers move to the center of the ring to duke it out and then return to the corners. This pattern is acted out for the rest of the play until the final K.O.

You might think that a play with characters who have such American iconic names like Lincoln and Booth would be a historical account that parallels the story of the 16^th president of the United States and his assassin. This is both true and false. One does have to wonder if the characters were doomed from the beginning to play out their fatal legacies or if they have the authority to change their destinies. On the other hand, any association is negated when Lincoln reveals he found out that their father gave them their names as a joke. However, while Parks draws a lot of symbolism and meaning from using the historical context, the play should be looked at as more a tale of explosive brotherly love and the deep bonds that chain family together.

One of the greatest ironies is that Lincoln, an African American, gets a job as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator. He wears a top hat, a fake beard and performs in whiteface. This is a complete flip of the minstrel shows that featured white actors in black face. Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator of the slaves, and here is Lincoln who escapes the bondage of hustling only to get what he calls a desk job pretending to be a white man. Patrons pay money to reenact the president’s assassination and Lincoln is murdered all day long. How much change has happened since the slaves became free? Mr. Murthada was fantastic at playing out the complexities of Lincoln. He walks a delicate line between completely holding it together and losing it. I could feel the life and death terror he felt at the prospect of returning to his previous life as if he were an alcoholic fighting to resist that first sip.

The search for identity is an important element in Topdog/Underdog. Booth is at the epicenter of this search. Lacking a solid sense of self, he is obsessed with learning how to con people. It should come easy for him since he’s been doing it since his parents left him. Mr. Walton perfectly captures the angst, passion and desperation of Booth as he descends deeper into insanity. Booth becomes a professional storyteller and eventually will destroy anyone or anything that gets in the way of his fantasy. This is demonstrated when Booth utters, “You’re in my way, Link.” Mr. Walton delivers the line with chilling honesty. In fact, throughout the play, Mr. Walton is honest to his character and makes consistently bold choices that fill the theater with tension, fear and exhilaration.

The set design was a delight and incredibly detailed. Before the show began, I was immediately immersed into the pit of destruction that the play existed in. The apartment was falling apart just as fast as the brother’s lives.

Topdog/Underdog is performed Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. through September 12, 2010.

The Lillian Theatre is located at 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood, just west of Vine.

Ticket prices: $25 for all performances. Reservations online at www.plays411.com/topdog or call 323.960.7719.