King James
When basketball superstar LeBron “King” James decided to star in an ESPN special called The Decision to announce his, wait for it, decision about where he would be playing basketball after seven ultimately frustrating seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, many people thought it was a bit much — the millions raised for charity notwithstanding. Some sports fans may have — may have! — muttered the term “drama queen.” Not playwright Rajiv Joseph. I’m guessing he shouted “Drama king!” before getting to work on this marvelous portrait of friendship between a couple of regular guys (well, except one of them wants to be a writer) that tracks in unsubtle but intelligent fashion with James’ career with Cleveland — his happy arrival, his heartbreaking departure, and his triumphant return. “Unsubtle but intelligent” works pretty well as a descriptor for the guys in question, Matt and Shawn, the former a bit of a blunt-force screwup from a solid middle-class family, the latter a driven dreamer from more difficult circumstances. Why yes, one is white and one is black; how else to address the charges of racism that swirled around the negative response to The Decision? (The phrase that Matt uses to describe his frustration over James is the only thing that keeps this from being a perfectly built work — dramatically, it has to be there, but it sounds strange coming from his character.) There’s a grinning, astonished pleasure to be had just watching them interact, thanks in large part to the way they’re embodied by Caleb Foote and Joshua Echebiri. Most good performances require the players to make us believe in the precise character of their relationships, but I can’t remember when I’ve seen it done better. Which is good, because the relationship is the thing; basketball is just what they talk about. Well, that and the problem with America.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, March 31, 2024
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm |
| Fridays, 7pm |
| Saturdays, 7pm |