Topdog/Underdog (TCG Edition)

Suzan-Lori Parks

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9781559366243
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Amerikanische Dramaturgie

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 their future.

Suzan-Lori Parks is the author of numerous plays, including In the Blood and Venus. She is currently head of the A.S.K. Theater Projects Writing for Performance Program at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.

Scene Six

Thursday night.

The room looks empty, as if neither brother is home.

Lincoln comes in.

Hes high on liquor. He strides in, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Lincoln

Taaadaaaa!

(Rest)

(Rest)

Taadaa, motherfucker. Taadaa!

(Rest)

Booth—uh, 3-Card—you here? Nope. Good. Just as well.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

He pulls an enormous wad of money from his pocket. He counts it, slowly and luxuriously, arranging and smoothing the bills and sounding the amounts under his breath.

He neatly rolls up the money, secures it with a rubber band and puts it back in his pocket. He relaxes in his chair.

Then he takes the money out again, counting it all over again, but this time quickly, with the touch of an expert hustler.

Lincoln

You didnt go back, Link, you got back, you got it back you got yr shit back in thuh saddle, man, you got back in business. Walking in Luckys and you seen how they was looking at you? Lucky starts pouring for you when you walk in. And the women. You see how they was looking at you? Bought drinks for everybody. Bought drinks for Lucky. Bought drinks for Luckys damn dog. Shit. And thuh women be hanging on me and purring. And I be feeling that old call of thuh wild calling. I got more phone numbers in my pockets between thuh time I walked out that door and thuh time I walked back in than I got in my whole life. Cause my shit is back. And back better than it was when it left too. Shoot. Who thuh man? Link. Thats right. Purrrrring all up on me and letting me touch them and promise them shit. 3 of them sweethearts in thuh restroom on my dick all at once and I was there my shit was there. And Cookie just went out of my mind which is cool which is very cool. 3 of them. Fighting over it. Shit. Cause they knew I’d been throwing thuh cards. Theyd seen me on thuh corner with thuh old crew or if they aint seed me with they own eyes theyd heard word. Links thuh stink! Theyd heard word and they seed uh sad face on some poor sucker or a tear in thuh eye of some stupid fucking tourist and they figured it was me whod just took thuh suckers last dime, it was me who had all thuh suckers loot. They knew. They knew.

Booth appears in the room. He was standing behind the screen, unseen all this time.

He goes to the door, soundlessly, just stands there.

Lincoln

And they was all in Luckys. Shit. And they was waiting for me to come in from my last throw. Cant take too many fools in one day, its bad luck, Link, so they was all waiting in there for me to come in thuh door and let thuh liquor start flowing and thuh music start going and let thuh boys who dont have thuh balls to get nothing but a regular job and uh weekly paycheck, let them crowd around and get in somehow on thuh excitement, and make way for thuh ladies, so they can run they hands on my clothes and feel thuh magic and imagine thuh man, with plenty to go around, living and breathing underneath.

(Rest)

dp n="96" folio="85" ?

They all thought I was down and out! They all thought I was some NoCount HasBeen LostCause motherfucker. But I got my shit back. Thats right. They stepped on me and kept right on stepping. Not no more. Who thuh man?! Goddamnit, who thuh—

Booth closes the door.

Lincoln

Booth

(Rest)

Lincoln

Another evening to remember, huh?

Booth

(Rest) Uh—yeah, man, yeah. Thats right, thats right.

Lincoln...