by Dr. David Glen Robinson
Capital T Theatre’s production of The Motherfucker with the Hat (TMFWTH) by Stephen Adly Guirgis fairly screamed “exploitation!” in its promise,-- or rather, warning -- of foul language and nudity. As usual , the reality escaped the hype in unpredictable ways. TMFWTH was a far more serious play than its unfortunate title suggested.
The story of TMFWTH was fairly direct. Jackie (W. Ben Wolfe) comes home to the apartment he shared with his love, Veronica (Indigo Rael), after having found a job, difficult to do as a recent parolee from prison upstate. Before Jackie and Veronica begin their weekend-long celebration, Jackie finds another man’s hat in the apartment, and it hadn't been there that morning when he left. The recriminations are lengthy and end with Jackie leaving.
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| J. Ben Wolfe, Indigo Rael (photo: Capital T Theatre) |
The story looked like a tale of revenge at that point, but in fact it changed quickly into a larger tale of the struggle for life in the worst of circumstances , amidst a shifting mosaic of sobriety and addiction. It could have become a sex farce, but the sexual situations were anything but farcical. The other on-stage characters were Ralph (Aaron Alexander), Victoria (Antoinette Robinson) and Cousin Julio (Rommel Sulit).
As is often the case in Austin theatre, the nudity in the show was all male. Bulky, covering underwear on women does not count. But contrary to expectation, the brief showe of bare skin was anything but gratuitous; instead, the revelation (ha!) sharply pivoted the plot.
The foul language in the play merely reflected the street patois of Latino and other ethnic sections of New York City, and playwright Stephen Adly Giurgis revealed a keen ear for spoken language. The script, however, taught no lessons beyond this one. The semantic potential of cursing in literary forms can go much further than this, however. The uses of billingsgate in drama were explored and workshopped in editions of Breaking String Theatre's New Russian Drama Festival last year and earlier this year. There, it was made clear that cursing can open deeper levels in the minds and personalities of characters. Not so here.
Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .
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