Theater Review: "Radio Golf" at Syracuse Stage

When I spoke to Timothy Bond, Richard Brooks and G. Valmont Thomas, the director and actors (respectively) of "Radio Golf" at Syracuse Stage, I asked them: "Why do you think that the original production was not as successful?"

Brooks answered with "Because we didn't do it."

And indeed, it's obvious this production of "Radio Golf" is rendered with love and reverence for the late August Wilson, who died in 2005. "Radio Golf" was his last play and he had died before it opened. It is also the last play in his "20th Century Cycle" and thus contains refrains of the prior works.

"Radio Golf" details the conflict between the African-American middle class and the lower class, of the tragic sundering of ties. Wilson believed, as it says in the program for "Radio Golf," that those who were able to rise up from poverty should try to help the community they came from. This viewpoint is apparent through the main character, Harmond, who is in conflict over this very issue, in his attempts to become the first Black mayor of Pittsburgh.

Brooks, who Wilson hand-picked to play Harmond in the original Yale Repertory production, is a powerful force here, delivering his lines with gentle conviction. When his character finally breaks free of his spiritual restraints, it's stirring and you hang onto his every word.

Thomas plays Roosevelt, Brooks best friend and avid golfer, whose radio show is the play's name-sake. He represents one side of the spectrum: the African-American who has abandoned his ties to the community. So much so that he has no qualms about being the politically-correct "Black face" of the local radio station. Thomas makes the character's qualms believable and even logical. He gets most of the jokes and most of the laughs from the audience.

On the other side is Thomas Jefferson Byrd as Elder Joseph Barlow, who carefully tows the line between loony eccentric and solemn storyteller. LeLand Gantt plays Sterling Johnson, a close friend of Joseph, and self-made contractor, who lives life on a moral angle but you can't help thinking that he sincerely believes what he says.

Crystal Fox is Mame Wilks, Harmond's wife, and the voice of reason in amongst all the conflict, and testosterone. Her character is drawn in quick strokes lacking in detail but Fox makes her sympathetic.

There are some parts that reads a bit preachy. Wilson's intent is obvious in this work. Director Timothy Bond was smart to focus on the humor and subtly point towards the drama, but not giving it center stage. This direction keeps the play from devolving into a sermon.

What "Radio Golf" highlights, in a very beautiful way, is the tenuous link between the African-American middle class and the poverty-stricken background that they leave behind.

It's "prescient," as Bond says, because of one monologue in the play, delivered by Harmond, of when an African-American succeeds, "After a while that center starts to give. They keep making up the rules as you go along. They keep changing the maps. Then you realize you're never going to get to that center. It's all a house of cards."

We only need to look at the White House and Congress right now to realize the truth of that statement. "Radio Golf" not be the best piece in the cycle (that honor goes to "Fences") but it's relevant and timely.

Details
What: "Radio Golf" at Syracuse Stage
When: Until March 13