by Sheila Barth
Two-act, two-hour dark urban comedy by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, through Oct. 13: Boston Center for the Arts, Roberts Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion,527 Tremont St., Boston.
We meet a menagerie of characters, colorfully depicted and recreated, in SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s two-act, two-hour 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning dark urban comedy, ”Between Riverside and Crazy”. The play is currently making its New England premiere through this Saturday, Oct. 13.
Besides winning the 2015 Pulitzer Prize, the play won the 2015 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New, Off-Broadway Play, and the Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play, so you know it must be outstanding. And it is, primarily because of Tiffany Nichole Greene’s snappy direction of this superb Boston award-winning cast. Tyrees Allen delivers a potent portrayal of disabled, NYPD cop, Walter “Pops” Washington, whose bark is bigger than his bite. Stewart Evan Smith portrays Junior, Pops’ shiftless son, who has moved back in Pops’ apartment, bringing in tow his sexy-dressing girlfriend, Lulu, provocatively portrayed by Octavia Chavez-Richmond. Junior and Lulu have littered Pops’ subsidized Manhattan apartment with Junior’s boxes of his belongings, and perhaps, contraband that Junior is stashing.
Scenic designer Erik D. Diaz’s clever, attractive, two-tiered, split stage depicting Pops’ apartment and urban, upper level, outdoor scenery, nicely lends itself to the story.
Grouchy, liquor-swilling Pops has also kindly taken in troubled, recovering druggie-alcoholic Oswaldo, (well-played by Alejandro Simoes), who tells Pops he loves him but he’s despondent because his own dad hates him. After Oswaldo visits his father, the self-medicated, distraught Oswaldo angrily attacks Pops.
Pops faced a more serious unprovoked attack eight years earlier. A young white rookie cop shot Pops six times, calling him the “N-bomb” during the unprovoked attack, says Pops, leaving Pops disabled and impotent, which he highly resents. Losing his job is one thing; losing his manhood is another, he says. The disabled veteran cop filed a civil suit against the NYPD, intends to have his day in court and win a hefty financial lawsuit. In the meantime, Junior has made a special arrangement with Church Lady (super award-winner Celeste Oliva), a mysterious, omniscient woman, whose job entails visits with Pops to help him seek redemption. However, the regular Church Lady is replaced by this beautiful woman who speaks and acts in double-entendre.
Earlier, Pops becomes excited, overjoyed, because his former police partner, Detective O’Connor (award-winner Maureen Keiller), intends to visit him, bringing slick-talking Lieutenant David Caro (stage-screen Boston favorite Lewis D. Wheeler) in tow. Pops is even happier when O’Connor reveals she’s engaged to Caro, and wants Pops to escort her down the aisle on her wedding day. However, their fun, nostalgic visit takes a bitter turn when Caro tries to convince a disgruntled, disillusioned Pops to drop his lawsuit and take a non-disclosed agreement, which includes lifelong residence in the upscale neighborhood apartment. Pops has received several dunning notices from the landlord, demanding payment and threatening eviction, but Pops is resolute. He’s going to file that lawsuit, because of his disabilities, but more so, because of the racist rookie’s slur.
A few other significant incidents highlight the play’s pithy moments: Pops’ sudden illness; Lulu’s claim she’s pregnant; and Pops’ ultimate, tongue-in-cheek solution. For more information go to: SpeakEasy.com
