THE HANGOVER REPORT – Robert O’Hara’s BARBECUE is overcooked

IMG_4546In recent years, three young African American men have established themselves as some of the most exciting voices in contemporary playwriting. They are Tarell Alvin McCraney, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and Robert O’Hara. Each have a flair for sophisticated, complex structures and thoughtful – even subversive – ways of presenting and exploring their themes. Mr. O’Hara’s latest at the Public Theater, Barbecue, is no different. If anything, the play spends too much energy trying to razzle dazzle audiences with its hall of mirrors structuring and insistent, over-the-top satire, and not enough effort into truly engaging our hearts and minds. I don’t want to spend time detailing the plot, as doing so would necessitate revealing some significant spoilers. Let’s just say that it begins with a family barbecue in a public park and spirals and multiplies itself from there. In each seen, race is always the elephant in the room, apparent but never addressed – a clever metaphor for the current state of race relations in this country. However, unlike last season’s Bootycandy, which gave us hilarious, no-holds-barred satire with an aching, complicated point of view, Barbecue ultimately comes across as a gimmicky, albeit smart, thought exercise.

The production, directed with panache by Kent Gash and well-designed, can’t be faulted. For better or for worse, the game cast, led by fierce performances from Tamberla Perry and Samantha Soule, commits to Mr. O’Hara’s incredibly high pitch and decibel level. At first, it’s amusing, even funny. The play quickly devolves, however, into full-scale assault for much of the first act. Luckily, the second act shows some variety in tone and some thematic payoff, but unfortunately for this reviewer, the damage was done.

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BARBECUE
Off-Broadway, Play
The Public Theater
1 hour, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through November 1

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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