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A review by tragiclocal
Clyde's by Lynn Nottage
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Sometimes an ambiguous ending feels like an intellectual way to present your ideas without having to fully flesh them out. This play rides on the backs of the characters, but everything important to the characters has happened in the past, and their ‘now’ is a whole lot of nothing - the limbo that Nottage presents the sandwich shop to be. I appreciate the intent there, and do think that the themes of having to find yourself after life in prison to be pretty poignant, especially as Clyde acts as a new sort of jailer to the crew. However, a lot of the story really does fall flat in places, seeming to rely heavily on the characters that just aren’t quite giving us much. Clyde especially came off as a weak link, with no humanity or redemption shown to her in the slightest, and then becoming some sort of symbolism for… the devil? Kinda odd, but maybe I just didn’t get it.
This being the sequel to Sweat, I do find Clyde’s the better of the two. I don’t love when plays go, “hey, look at this problem! Doesn’t it just make you think?” with little more to the story. I think a good piece can deliver thoughtfulness alongside meaningful plot and conclusions, and Nottage seems to pick ambiguity over answers. Which might work well for some, but it’s not my cup of tea. It can sometimes come off (from both the author, director, and audience) as a way to play the faux intellectual and parade around all your “deep” thoughts about the prison industrial complex without providing any sort of conversation about where to go next. Sure, that might not be the point of the play - the author isn’t required to give solutions - but I think this story just needed more to grip onto apart from the shallow dips into each character’s backstories.
This being the sequel to Sweat, I do find Clyde’s the better of the two. I don’t love when plays go, “hey, look at this problem! Doesn’t it just make you think?” with little more to the story. I think a good piece can deliver thoughtfulness alongside meaningful plot and conclusions, and Nottage seems to pick ambiguity over answers. Which might work well for some, but it’s not my cup of tea. It can sometimes come off (from both the author, director, and audience) as a way to play the faux intellectual and parade around all your “deep” thoughts about the prison industrial complex without providing any sort of conversation about where to go next. Sure, that might not be the point of the play - the author isn’t required to give solutions - but I think this story just needed more to grip onto apart from the shallow dips into each character’s backstories.