‘Clyde’s’ Theater Review: Uzo Aduba Crackles In Devilish New Dark Comedy

At first, it might seem Clyde’s, a new play by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, is about sandwiches. But it’s so much deeper than that – it ponders the nature of rehabilitation, dreaming and, um, perhaps evil itself. The titular Clyde’s is a greasy spoon on a lonely Pennsylvania highway. It’s run by Clyde (In Treatment‘s Uzo Aduba) herself in fabulous form dressed in an array of gaudy body-hugging garments that are a running gag. She lords over a kitchen of ex-cons churning out sandwiches while they dream of turning the joint into something much bigger.

Montrellous (Ron Cephas-Jones), who went to prison for his brother so he could go to college, is a sort of the Buddha of the Sandwich, pursuing the perfect mixture of tastes while dreaming of a better life. White ex-con Jason (Edmond Donovan), who sports supremacist-like tattoos, gets all Clyde’s sexual attention. While romantic Raphael (Reza Salazar) falls for Letitia (Kara Young) in a case of unrequited kitchen love. When the staff shows their interest in rising to a higher state, Clyde slaps them back into place. “Don’t disappoint me by having aspirations,” she bullies. “Social hour’s over. Pick up the pace, or tomorrow I can get a fresh batch of nobodies to do your job. And I’ll make sure you go back to whatever hell you came from.”

As the foul-mouth truck-stop diner owner roars orders, her message is clear: don’t dream too big. The audience hears the suggestion that Clyde has sold her soul to the Devil to clear her gambling debts. The amusing-yet-ambiguous finale raises more questions than it answers: is Clyde’s an Earthly Purgatory or is it really Hell?

Clyde’s is now playing at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre. Get your tickets here!

Article by Erik Meers

Erik Meers is the founder and editor of uInterview.com, uPolitics.com and uSports.org. He was previously managing editor of GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Interview and Paper magazines.