Cursing in New York: Flor De Liz Perez (Veronica) and Ricardo Chavira (Jackie). Photo credit: Mark Douet
Play: The Motherf**ker with the Hat
Theatre: Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre
Playwright: Stephen Adly Guirgis
Director: Indhu Rubasingham
Review by Patsy Antoine
If in-your-face theatre that’s brash and gutsy doesn’t appeal, you may want to side-step the Indhu Rubasingham directed The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Stephen Adly Guirgis’s first Broadway play. If that’s the case, you may well curse the decision.
Across three Manhattan neighbourhoods, five New Yorkers deal with the fallout from addictions, lies and infidelity to hilariously comic effect. Desperate Housewives’ Ricardo Chavira is well cast as Jackie, a recovering drug addict and ex-con who wants to go straight with his girlfriend Veronica (Flor De Liz Perez). That is, until he finds a hat on the bedroom table, which doesn’t belong to him.
Determined to find the hat’s owner, Jackie’s AA sponsor Ralph (Alec Newman), Ralph’s wife Victoria (Nathalie Armin) and Jackie’s Cousin Julio (played brilliantly by Yul Vazquez who reprises his Broadway role) are all soon drawn into a sticky web of untruths and deceit.
Guirgis has a knack for exposing the gritty, everyday realities of New York’s underclass. He won the Pulitzer Prize for drama earlier this year for Between Riverside and Crazy, the story of a retired policeman who faces losing his home. He also sure knows how to cuss – Veronica’s defensive, kick-ass rant near the start of the play is one of the many highlights.
But it’s Cousin Julio who’s gets the best lines. And Yul Vazquez delivers each one to perfection. “What do you think I do in the gym, sit in the sauna and do reach arounds?” is one of the many gems.
That’s not to say the other cast members are slacking. Ricardo Chavira brings a realness to Jackie by placing a harness around your shoulders, offering you a gentle tug, before slowly drawing you in.
Flor De Liz Perez effortlessly channels a brash and believable Nuyourican energy while Alec Newman and Nathalie Armin shine as the vegan-living, green-juice guzzling Manhattanites, despite being the only two English cast members.
All of this is performed within three cleverly designed sets which glide effortlessly in and out against a backdrop of New York City fire escapes.
The Motherf**ker with the Hat ends with a rare, tender moment that pulls all of the anger, emotion and explosiveness which precedes it into one poignant scene, showing just how Guirgis’s sharp, well-observed prose can touch you on all levels.
The Motherf**ker with the Hat is at the Lyttelton Theatre at the National Theatre until 20 August 2015.