Expectations Flipped with Barbecue at SF Playhouse

Written by Robert O’Hara

Directed by Margo Hall

September 26 to November 11, 2017

SF Playhouse

Reviewed by Christine Okon

Bright lights glare down on a rundown urban patch of flattened grass, a bent and rusty safety fence, a beat up grill and the parks-and-rec-issue brutalist concrete washroom that sets the stage for Robert O’Hara’s Barbecue, directed by Margo Hall, to launch SF Playhouse’s 15th season.

Marie (Teri Whipple), James T (Clive Worsley), and Adlean (Jennie Brick) express reservations about the planned intervention

Blackout and lights up. A tableau of good-old-folks Americana: Adlean, a plump middle-aged woman smoking a cigarette in a portable chair, nonchalantly played by Jennie Brick ; James T, the backward-baseball-cap-wearing and slightly goofy brother played by Clive Worsley; Marie, the self-absorbed and sexy millennial played with detached snarkiness by Teri Whipple; and Lillie Anne (Anne Darragh), the frustrated sister who is trying to organize her family “team” to stage the intervention disguised as a barbeque for their wayward family member Barbara (a self-possessed Susi Damilano) whom they think is wrecking her life with drugs. These people can barely save themselves as they squabble with each other and argue about how they’re supposed to act when Barbara arrives. But despite their good intentions, Barbara follows her own story which unfolds later in the play.

Lillie Anne (Halili Knox*, right) explains to Adlean (Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe), James T (Adrian Roberts*), and Marie (Kehinde Koyejo*) how an intervention works

Blackout again and lights up, but this time the characters are black. Whaa? Why? We’re intrigued. The same action continues but with a different pace and energy, and we are drawn into this extended story of a family trying to support one of their own. The juxtaposition of white and black families in the same situation has echoes of all those family sitcoms with familiar “types” like the sarcastic aunt, the snarky teenager, the doofus brother, and the do-gooder sister. The mirror-flip family forms a hilarious and vibrant unit,with Adrian Roberts as James T; Halili Knox as Lillie Anne; Edris Cooper-Aniforwoshe as Adlean; and Kehinde Koyejo as Marie trying to get ready for Barbara, played with powerful distinction by Margo Hall.

Marie (Kehinde Koyejo*), Adlean (Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe), and James T (Adrian Roberts*) express skepticism

To describe what happens next would spoil the surprise, as this play has more twists than a mall pretzel shop, so enjoy the ride. Let it be said that this play is an innovative exploration of what happens when someone’s real-life story meets the primal forces of pride, ambition, greed and whatever it takes to turn that story into Oscar-worthy gold.

The most powerful dynamic--indeed the fulcrum of the play--is between the two Barbaras, Susi Damilano and Margo Hall, partners in crime who match wits as they strike a deal that seems like, but is not really, a win-win.

Margo Hall as Barbara

Susi Damilano as Barbara

Barbecue skewers the forces of fabrication and deception in our society, leaving the audience perhaps a bit confused and uneasily entertained.

Photos by Jessica Palopoli


Barbecue

CAST

ADLEAN
Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe
Jennie Brick

BARBARA
Margo Hall
Susi Damilano

JAMES T
Clive Worsley
Adrian Roberts

LILLIE ANNE
Anne Darragh
Halili Knox

MARIE
Kehinde Koyejo
Teri Whipple

CREATIVE TEAM
Margo Hall
DIRECTOR

Bill English
SCENIC DESIGNER

Brooke Jennings
COSTUME DESIGNER

Cliff Caruthers
SOUND DESIGNER

Wen-Ling Liao
LIGHTING DESIGNER

Jacquelyn Scott
PROPERTIES DESIGNER

SF Playhouse
450 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415.677.9596

www.sfplayhouse.org