Review: ASF production of 'Clyde’s' is thoughtful, uplifting comedy
Four employees, all who have served prison time, work in a tiny kitchen, continually offering up their visions of the perfect sandwich. They recite ingredients like prayers, combinations that somehow conjure a better world, even if only through a better sandwich.
“Clyde’s,” written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and showing on the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Octagon stage, is an uplifting, wonderfully acted comedy about the power to dream and the power of people in desperate situations to make small choices to change their lives.
Although the four former prisoners have been released, they are not free in a world that will neither forget nor forgive their crimes. The feeling of an unsympathetic, hostile outside world is exemplified by Jean Kim’s set, which consists of the small, confined kitchen with food tables and the window to the restaurant. The audience only sees the four kitchen workers confined inside the small kitchen, trying to do their jobs and get on with their lives as the female owner, Clyde, appears and reappears outside at a counter window, heaping unending work, pressure and abuse upon them.
It doesn’t take long for us to realize that In this rundown roadside sandwich shop a battle for life, dignity and maybe even souls is being waged.
On one side is Montrellous, brilliantly played by Michael A. Shepperd, who returns to ASF after playing Audrey II in “Little Shop of Horrors” and Alonso in “The Tempest.” Montrellous, described by one of the kitchen workers “as like a Buddha, if he’d grown up in the hood,” believes in and tries to teach the others to hope, to do the right thing and to use the simple joy of creating the perfect sandwich as a way to find tranquility and as a conduit for their emotions, passions, judgment and even ethics. His message is to control what you can control but stay true to yourself even in things others may find trivial.
On the other side is Clyde, a shady, former ex-inmate played by Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, who most may recognize from when she was starring with Cicely Tyson and Oprah Winfrey in the ABC TV miniseries "The Women of Brewster Place." Clyde abuses her employees because she knows as ex-cons they have nowhere else to turn. She is a black hole happily blotting out their light, sucking in all joy, all optimism and all aspirations to transform it into nothingness.
The restaurant workers whose lives, albeit often desperate depressing lives, seem in the balance are Letitia (Alinca Hamilton), Rafael (Alfredo Antillon) and Jason (Brendan D. Hickey). As the play progresses we learn more about their lives and dreams.
The Tony-nominated comedy is not without problems. The characters are a little too pat and loveable. When each confesses their crimes, we find all their crimes lacked any actual malice, and instead ranged from stupid, drunken and easily forgivable mistakes and bad decisions to one that is downright saintly.
While the play’s message might be good for children, its language is definitely not. There is language here you won’t want your child reciting at school.
Also, the play starts out slowly. But like the sandwiches that the workers at Clyde’s conjure, while initial parts may not seem exciting, the combination ultimately comes together into a surprisingly savory and satisfying whole.
The major way the production overcomes the play’s faults is through an incredible cast. As with the sandwiches (and this will be the final sandwich comparison), the production’s success depends on great ingredients, and one could not hope for five better actors than are featured here. It also helps that director Josiah Davis knows how to bring it all together and does a fine job of knowing when to accelerate the pace.
The result is an ASF production that is funny, thoughtful and surprisingly uplifting.
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: “Clyde’s”
WHERE: Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Octagon Stage
WHEN: Performances through Aug. 6
TICKETS: Log on to www.asf.net
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Review: ASF production of 'Clyde’s' is thoughtful, uplifting comedy
