‘Clyde’s’ is best play of the season

‘CLYDE’S’: Uzo Aduba & (left to right) Kara Young, Ron Cephas Jones, Edmund Donovan & Reza Salazar. Photo: Joan Marcus.

CLYDE’S
Written by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Through January 16, 2022
The Helen Hayes Theatre
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), https://www 2ST.com

By David NouNou

To call Clyde’s the best play of the season might not sound much of a compliment, considering the slim pickings that were offered this year, but let me assure you it can stand on its own merits in any season. It is a thought-provoking play peppered with laughs about hell, purgatory, dreams and hopes.

Clyde’s is set in a truck-stop sandwich shop in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It’s a modern-day purgatory. Run by the devil incarnate Clyde (Uzo Aduba), it is a place for former incarcerated inmates upon release to work and make some money to restart their lives. Clyde was once incarcerated herself because of a man that did her wrong, and she made sure he isn’t around to talk about it. She knows the system and worked out the deal. Thus, working long hard hours for very little pay, that’s the deal with Clyde because there is nowhere else for inmates to work or get paid. Do the job as told—or back in the clink you go.

In this hellhole work four former incarcerated people, their crimes ranging from petty larceny to assault:  Montrellous (Ron Cephas Jones) is the oldest and wisest who tries to keep hope alive. Jason (Edmund Donovan) is the tattooed-all-over loner who doesn’t fit in anywhere. Rafael (Reza Salazar) is the aspiring sous-chef with a positive attitude. Finally, there is the feisty Letitia (Kara Young) whose crime was stealing medicine to keep her baby alive. They are four misfits indeed, all of whom ultimately come together by having a dream in their spare time to talk about making the perfect sandwich.

There really isn’t much time for daydreaming or hoping because the dragon lady, Clyde, is there at every turn to make sure their dreams are crushed and there is nowhere to go but further down. From this misery comes people of diverse identities, forming this bond to keep their hopes and dreams alive and a feeling a self-worth. They feel that their past doesn’t have to constantly identify them.

Although this is an ensemble piece, director Kate Whoriskey makes sure every actor and movement on stage is meticulously timed. Just watch the inmates working around this hellhole of a kitchen, with a great set by Takeshi Kata; navigating through it is almost choreographic.

Uzo Aduba’s Clyde is phenomenal—whether berating the employees or pulverizing their souls and making sure they never get a break with anything—she rules. Her costumes by Jennifer Moeller are a drag queen’s fantasy.

Ron Cephas Jones imbues Montrellous with so much dignity that when he describes making a perfect sandwich, you are transformed in his dream. Mr. Cephas Jones, Edmund Donavan, Reza Salazar and Kara Young all mesh together seamlessly as an ethnically diverse group of actors and give performances that complement each other perfectly.

Is there such a thing as the perfect sandwich?  Depends on your taste, but I can assure you Lynn Nottage is offering us a devilishly delicious one with Clyde’s.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 27, 2021
Reviewed at November 26, 2021 press performance.

‘CLYDES’: Reza Salazar, Kara Young, Ron Cephas Jones & Edmund Donovan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CLYDE’S’: Reza Salazar & Kara Young. Photo: Joan Marcus.