Alexander Upstairs is proud to present the South African premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. Described by The New York Times as “a deeply theatrical experience” it’s a play that tells the story of brothers named Lincoln and Booth – their father’s idea of a joke. Lincoln works in an arcade as his namesake – dressing in whiteface – pretending to watch his final play as customers shoot toy guns at him. He’s underpaid, but clings to the job for fears of being replaced by a wax dummy. His brother, Booth, shoplifts and dreams of running a three-card monte game on the street like his brother used to do, all with the goal of impressing the girl of his dreams.

Topdog/Underdog looks at the sibling dynamic – the older brother who feels saddled with responsibility, the younger who felt he never had a chance to shine – but also looks at the bigger themes of family, connection, and, in Parks’ words, “who the world thinks you’re going to be, and how you struggle with that.”

The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002, and was described by the Pulitzer committee as “a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity”.

This is the first time that Alexander Upstairs will host a two act play and have it in residence for the duration of the run, as opposed to its usual rotating schedule. Jon Keevy, the theatre manager, says “Alexander Upstairs is excited to present this great American text. While our stages are teeming with local productions of West End and Broadway shows, very few of these are from the African Diaspora – that’s a shame, because black excellence needs to connect, needs to be shared, and not overshadowed by another production of Pinter."

Media & Reviews

Review of Topdog/Underdog by Alex Kaczmarek

Review by Carla Lever

Review by Megan Furniss

Audience Responses

Both actors were excellent. I'd highly recommend this drama - it is gripping, the actors are convincingly American in their accents and mannerisms. Well done to Alexander Bar as well as the actors & director. A fine piece of theatre.

On the strength of the review in The Daily Maverick, we booked tickets and we are both so pleased that we did. Every aspect about this production gripped us - the acting, staging, lighting, set, script, story - and we have been discussing it throughout the day today. The size of the room intensified the experience and I couldn't imagine it being more effective in a bigger auditorium. Serious congratulations to Mdu Kweyama, Marty Kintu & Daniel Richards - thank you for breaking it all down so relentlessly and building it all up again with meticulous detail and pace. Your performances were continually in balance and full of edge. We felt it. To the team at Alexander Bar, thanks for providing a platform for this flavour of theatre in Cape Town.

Fantastic performances. Great venue.

Excellent, gripping production. Both actors were superb, convincingly American & the director's touch was the cherry on the cake. Brilliant drama all round.

Marty Kintu and DanielRichards are brilliant as the two brothers kind of holding it together – trying to get by. In the second act, it all falls apart –with tragic consequences. The dialogue is fast and furious as they spit out words. One would never know that these two actors are not American. Brilliant performances. Superb direction by Mdu Kweyama. It is a harrowing play. Riveting, but harrowing.

An riverting performance by both the actors

Thoroughly enjoyed the experience - very gripping and the cast held the tension very believably.

Very intense play.Great acting and superb plot. A MUST SEE!!

brilliant powerful performance great directing and amazing opportunity to see such an esteemed play

Brave, powerful performances. Still thinking about it.

Richly layered text with pacey direction and strong performances. Marty Kintu especially soared in Act 2.

Completely engrossing from the word go. A sensitive, honest, powerful and at times hilarious exploration of the everyday. Go watch!

To be truthful, I found the swearing and masturbating uncomfortable, especially in such a small space. But I thought the set was clever and the acting energy quite high.

Very very good actors, very disturbing play, necessary to watch. Why not show it in a South African context though? Does it need to be American?

Utterly, utterly believable performance!

Very intense play.Great acting and superb plot. A MUST SEE!!

Absolutely brilliant. A must see. Layers and layers of powerful meaning and significance to countries and cultures globally. The performance was mesmerizing. Go see before it's to late.

I thought the play was really good - the script from a third of the way in was excellent and the acting was superb. My only thought is that the first bit dragged a bit and it took me some time to get into it.

Brilliant, realistic, intense The acting was perfect. It's nice to see so young actors so good. Thanks

Excellent performance. The acting was wonderful and the staging in the intimate space worked really well.

Well - the acting was superb - both guys brilliant, and it was worth coming just for that. And we were glad we stayed after the interval, as we had thought about leaving. BUT, it really was too long and I am sure you could cut down the first half. And while we are in our 70’s, we are not mother grundys, and so much masturbation got really boring! Having seen it was a Pulitzer prize winner, I didn’t really read on to take in that it was about inner city low-lifers and their tragic outcome. Good luck for the rest of the run.

This production involves three theatre practitioners I respect hugely but somehow TOPDOG/UNDERDOG doesn't see them at their very best. The play may be "a great American text" but for me as drama it works better on a metaphorical level than a literal one. Despite my reservations, I think this is the sort of play that would benefit from post-performance discussion. Sadly, the audience was pitiful last night. (P.S The three card monte routine was impressive!)

Thoroughly enjoyed the experience - very gripping and the cast held the tension very believably.

An excellent performance from two talented young actors

Good production and excellent performances, especially from Marty Kintu. Some moments, however, felt a little rushed, undermining their potential emotional punch. All in all, would be great to see more serious drama productions like this at the Alex Bar.

I really enjoyed the play. I think the actors did a great job and was a great attempt at the play. I had read the play so it was great to see it come to life.

A great night out at the theatre. Great script, strong direction and excellent performances.

Powerful work, tense relationship between siiblings, played by Daniel Richards and Marty Kintu. Mdu Kweyama has created an unsettling drama, with his characteristic flair, especially the card 'dance' that the younger brother performs. Kweyama integrates music and physicality to create the inner worlds of the characters.

Great performances from the cast, and nicely directed. I felt the play in the end did not go anywhere, and I knew the minute the pistol appeared in the first act that we had to wait for someone to die! But the performances made the evening worthwhile.

While not my favourite script ever (I thought some of the humour oddly crude for a fairly seriously-themed play) the acting, for the most part, was superb and it was wonderful to see how effectively one can make use of such an intimate space.

Very niche theatre. Congratulations to the two actors. It is not easy to hold the whole play just the two of them wuth such a capturing realism.

Amazing show acted so intensely. Quite dark...

intense, excellent, a must see.

Fantastic. Cant believe you can afford to offer theatre of that quality at R100 per ticket.

Marty Kintu and DanielRichards are brilliant as the two brothers kind of holding it together – trying to get by. In the second act, it all falls apart –with tragic consequences. The dialogue is fast and furious as they spit out words. One would never know that these two actors are not American. Brilliant performances. Superb direction by Mdu Kweyama. It is a harrowing play. Riveting, but harrowing.

Excellent acting. Great performance from the two. Well done to them.

To be truthful, I found the swearing and masturbating uncomfortable, especially in such a small space. But I thought the set was clever and the acting energy quite high.

Lincoln actor was fantastic Staff very helpful

Indeed, my rating is the highest: 5 STARS EXTREMELY WELL DIRECTED AND SUPERBLY ACTED, WE KEEP ON TALKING ABOUT IT! THE DEEPLY POIGNANT CONTRAST BETWEEN HUMOR AND UTTER DESPAIR IN THE PLAY MAKES ONE EVEN MORE AWARE OF THE MANY INEQUALITIES ON OUR PLANET. WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN, WHEN WILL WE START TO BEGIN TO CHANGE THAT? WHY NOT NOW! THANK YOU SO MUCH ALEXANDER BAR FOR BRINGING THIS SHOW TO CAPE TOWN, REGARDS, MIEKE

Great performance. Intimate seating. The highlight of my night.

Absolutely outstanding performances from the cast