The play sometimes seems mechanical in its handling of turning points. He understands the ethic of Midwestern modesty but yearns for a touch of glory from his writing and refuses to constrain his dreams for other people’s comfort. The writing here isn’t as off-kilter, but Perfetti draws out the quirky fragility of his character to moving effect.ĭavis’ Shawn is the more reasonable of the two friends, smarter in many respects but too compassionate to ever feel superior. Matt, who’s nerdy and a bit obtuse but endowed with touching depth, is the kind of Lonergan role that Michael Cera excelled in. “King James” had me wondering if Joseph had set out to write a Kenneth Lonergan play. Perfetti and Davis anticipate each other’s moves, react to opportunities in real time and feed off the excitement in the house. A DJ (Khloe Janel), visibly perched in a booth offstage, blasts R&B and pop tunes that had subscribers jiggling in their seats and singing in the lobby.īut Leon allows nothing to get in the way of his actors, who are in effect playing ball together as performers. Flashing lights circulate through the audience before the play begins and during scene changes. “King James” is a fairly conventional two-character drama with a tight thematic focus, a lively sense of humor and the psychological care of a memorable short story.ĭirected with élan by Tony-winner Kenny Leon, the production raises the energy level with stadium-style razzle-dazzle. Joseph, the author of the extraordinarily ambitious drama “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” which was produced by Center Theatre Group before it reached Broadway, is operating on a smaller canvas here. And voilà, a basketball friendship is born. It’s a question that Shawn, a bit of a loner, hasn’t thought much about. Matt asks whom Shawn will be bringing along. He doesn’t get into details, but Matt, assured that he’s not selling the tickets to a “bandwagon fan,” decides that the seats won’t be going to waste. Shawn lets slip that basketball saved his life. “He hasn’t done anything yet,” Shawn reasonably objects. To make matters more agonizing, it’s James’ rookie season and from what Matt has seen “he’s already eclipsed” Michael Jordan. These seats belonged to his father, who is no longer able to attend games for health reasons. He desperately needs money but can’t bear parting with the tickets at any price. Not enough, says Matt, who is holding out for more than twice that amount. He’s never attended a game in person before but has decided to treat himself to good seats after selling a short story.
Shawn, a budding Black writer working a series of jobs to make ends meet, answers the call with $2,000. He works at La Cave du Vin, an upscale wine bar in Cleveland Heights, where the action is set. An inner tumult, which might otherwise stay buried or acted out inappropriately after one too many beers, finds an understanding witness, a fellow sharer, a pal.Īn insecure white guy worried that he’s not going to transcend his parents’ low expectations for him, Matt is trying to unload season tickets for the Cavs, a pair for each game, when the play begins in 2004. Through their loyalty to a losing team and adoration of a sports superhero, Matt (Chris Perfetti, a star of ABC’s runaway hit comedy “Abbott Elementary”) and Shawn (Glenn Davis, one of the artistic directors of Steppenwolf Theatre Company and an ensemble acting member) are able to give voice to their hopes and passions, their crushing disappointments and belated victories. Basketball helps them channel their emotions. Neither is especially adept at putting words to feelings. Two young men, one white, one Black, are struggling to establish their adult identities. The subject, which has been curiously neglected by dramatists given its centrality to most of our lives, is seen merely through a basketball lens. “King James” takes up the question of why we develop intense identifications with individual athletes and teams, but it’s ultimately a study in friendship. Each represents a watershed year in James’ career with the Cavs: 2004 (his rookie season), 2010 (when he announced that he was leaving the Cavs for the Miami Heat), 2014 (when he returned to Cleveland) and 2016 (when the Cavs won the team’s first NBA championship).īut extensive knowledge or even interest in the sport isn’t required. The play, which opened Wednesday at the Mark Taper Forum in a co-production with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, is divided like a game into four quarters. Although James himself never appears onstage, his status on his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, determines the frame of mind of two fans who have been brought together by a common love of the sport and mutual worship of their idol. “King James” is named after basketball player nonpareil LeBron James, who looms over Rajiv Joseph’s entertaining new drama like a demigod.