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187th out of 450 books
—
512 voters
Topdog/Underdog
A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Suzan-Lori Parks latest riff on the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of the...more
Paperback, 112 pages
Published
June 1st 2001
by Theatre Communications Group
(first published January 1st 2001)
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Pulitzer Prize? Who cares. MacArthur "Genius" grant? No big deal. The literary establishment rightly has buried this play with praise, none of it able to bear weight once you've read or seen this play. The words are electric. The subtext is playfully obvious and rife with tension. The requisite "bucking of literary conventions" turns out to be a miraculous way to depict rhythm on the page. Lori-Parks knocks this one right out of the stadium and into your lap.
ps: Don Cheadle premiered the role of...more
ps: Don Cheadle premiered the role of...more
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My Amazon review: Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize winning play, Topdog Underdog, shows the strength of Parks' ability to write convincing dialogue, to develop memorable characters and in the process to create something of a meaningful nature. Certainly this two-man play contains black male stereotypes that are uncomfortable to deal with, however this seems to be the point. While the reader hopes that Lincoln and Booth are caricatures, or at the very least are only representative of an extinct p...more
Topdog/Underdog is an intriguing post-modernish play documenting the strained, yet loving relationship between two card-hustling brothers, aptly named Lincoln and Booth. Suzan-Lori Parks definitely shows her ability to shoot energy to her audience through the electric dialogue between Lincoln and Booth, making the play feel truly alive. Lincoln and Booth are both strongly realized characters, displaying strengths, weaknesses, desires, passions, and struggles. I truly enjoyed their conversations...more
I am a casual reader of drama and a casual theater-goer; so take my opinion here for what it is worth. I picked up Topdog/Underdog because it had won a Pulitzer Prize. I was very disappointed. 109 pages of largely inane dialog that ends with tragedy -- tragedy that I as a reader did not feel a bit. There is a certain cleverness here: characaters named Booth and Lincoln; Lincoln works as Abe Lincoln at an arcade where he is shot throughout the day. This play obviously did something for other read...more
I have also read Suzan-Lori Parks' novel Getting Mother's Body, and her play Venus and I am continuously impressed with her. I love the way she writes language the way it would be spoken: sometimes difficult to understand, not always with proper grammar, and different for each person.
Topdog/Underdog tells the story of two brothers: Lincoln, the topdog, and Booth (aka 3-card), the underdog, who are obsessed with the street con game three-card monte. Lincoln describes why they were given their nam...more
Topdog/Underdog tells the story of two brothers: Lincoln, the topdog, and Booth (aka 3-card), the underdog, who are obsessed with the street con game three-card monte. Lincoln describes why they were given their nam...more
love this play,great story, and amazing to see it live again and again, a story that is illuminated even brighter by interpretation of director and actors in each production, it's like a story that's never the same whenever you see it!
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As a playwright I really appreciate this play. The characters are well rounded and incredible to watch. There's a wonderful musical rhythm to Parks' writing that shines in this piece. The set up of two brothers named Booth and Lincoln with Lincoln dressing up part time as Honest Abe at an arcade pretty much tells you how it's going to end but watching them get there is a incredible journey. Booth's desperate desire to be like his brother when he was a hustler and Lincoln's desire to avoid becomi...more
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One of the most over-rated plays I've ever seen or read.
(SIX WORD REVIEW): The Ghetto Cain and Abel...meh.
Generally I've been surprisingly impressed with the Pulitzer Prize winning dramas. Often I find major award winning writing to be over-hype crap. The Pulizter's for drama that I have read have been pleasant gems. Until now.
This 2002 award winner, is the story of two African-American brothers (Lincoln and Booth), sorting out their lives. They hustle, steal, con, and try to work legitimate-but-low-paying jobs. Their past is nearly as amorphous as their future.
One of the ways in which I rate plays...more
This 2002 award winner, is the story of two African-American brothers (Lincoln and Booth), sorting out their lives. They hustle, steal, con, and try to work legitimate-but-low-paying jobs. Their past is nearly as amorphous as their future.
One of the ways in which I rate plays...more
The 2002 Pulitzer winner for drama. This two-person play focuses on two African-American brothers and their struggle with their past (their childhood and their abandonment by both parents) and their present (both are down-on-their-luck). Lincoln is the older brother whose internal conflict weighs security and responsibility against respectability and success and the chance to make money illegally. Booth is the younger brother who dreams big dreams about himself, who wants to live bigger than he...more
I recommend everything written by Suzan-Lori Parks and Topdog/Underdog is no exception. Parks is a very down-to-earth sister. Her love of American history is so pervasive throughout her work. I'm a really big fan of hers. Topdog/Underdog has been one of the most fascinating literary works, I've read this year. This play is only a about 120 pages and can easily be read in one day, but it's the themes and ideas at work in the play that keep you thinking for about a week. It's worth it, though.
This is a very interesting play with a strong central relationship but the conclusion can be seen coming a mile away and is confusing as to how it reveals a clear protagonist. The play seems like it would give gifted actors room to create and offers some very useful structural tips on developing non-verbal conflict but it doesn't seem to contain a sense of the unforeseen inevitable great drama provides.
This play has a cool allegorical or even mythological feel that appeals to me, without ever straying from the real and immediate relationship these two brothers have. There's a great balance in the text between thoroughly writing these characters and freedom for a production to perform these rolls very differently. The makings of pretty juicy moments in pretty innocuous-looking lines. It's interesting being uncertain of how the characters feel during most of the text, though, and liking that. Wo...more
Far more straightforward than her earlier work in both The America Play and The Death of the Very Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World; however, making it accessible and praiseworthy of the Pulitzer seemed to water-down the art and poetry Parks hit on in her earlier renditions. It is still phenomenal and an easier read--as far as form; content is another matter.
I know it won the Pulitzer Prize and it had great concept. Two brothers, Booth and Lincoln. You can tell from the tension throughout the play that Booth will end up shooting Lincoln. How and when is the suspence. And there were parts of the play that were quite moving. I have a feeling this play should be seen and not read.
زبر دست / زیر دست ( نمایشنامه )
ترجمه ی آراز بارسقیان
نشر افراز
Topdog/Underdog was an enjoyable read but I imagine seeing the three-card monte scenes on stage would be amazing.The rhythm, especially when either brother was delivering card patter, was the thing that held this work together—much more than the themes or characters.
The story of two african-american brothers one named Booth the other named Lincoln by their absent parents who share a small apartment. Lincoln is a Lincoln re-enactor and Booth is a 3 card monte wanna be hustler, but this story is about family wounds that never heal and the personalities that siblings have that sometimes never change.
Powerful play by a local writer. Raw and real, this one is not for the light-hearted. I can only imagine how impactful it is on stage. I'll be teaching this one in a month or so, looking forward to the discussions on identity and rebellion.
2002 Pulitzer: one of the most disturbing and forceful plays I've ever read. I just kept thanking my lucky stars that I was reading it and not watching it be performed, I just don't know how my psyche would digest everything in this play. Powerful.
This play was awesome. There's two brothers, one named Lincoln and one named Booth. Even though you know what is going to happen from the first scene, once you get there it is still completely shocking.
If it's difficult to read at times, try saying the lines out loud. Parks has a musical/poetic quality to her writing, so the words all actually flow very easily, even if not in your head. You get used to it.
I saw this play twice (with Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright) and had to buy the script to read it, too. It's an intense play about sibling rivalry, race in America and power.
Truly an amazing script that is love to see performed—especially now that Daniel Day Lewis has brought Abraham Lincoln to life so adeptly.
I read this book because my mother and I are die hard Mos Def fans (he's so reserved, cute and complex!) but without my undying love, this play could stand on its own. This riveting, and ultimately ironic play holds the reader 'til the very last page. While the finale is the climax of the play, it leaves you questioning the actual end. Where do sibling rivalries end? Are they fated to happen? This really hit home for me considering my brother and I are viciously competitive… But despite their co...more
Saw her at the 92nd Street Y recently. AMAZING!
Not my favorite, but very good.
<3
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Suzan-Lori Parks is an award-winning American playwright and screenwriter. She was a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002. She is married to blues musician Paul Oscher.
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