KING JAMES – at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Slacker bonds with Self-starter over LeBron James
By Susan Dunn
Are you game-ready? Flushed with anticipation? Ready for the dunks, the slides, the airballs, the swishes and flops? King James opens with basketball lingo that resonates like a pin-ball zig zag. In four scenes, King James travels us through the unlikely bond between two young men of opposite backgrounds, cultures and means. As they spar over the cost of a game package, friendship is initially built and sealed with basketball lingo and season tickets. And over the years that friendship is tested, challenged, torn and rebuilt over local team successes, mid-western pride and the shared love of the game.
King James opens with basketball lingo that resonates like a pin-ball zig zag.
Playwright Rajiv Joseph is a Cleveland native and lifelong Cavaliers Fan. In his first scene, ‘2004’, LeBron James has been named Rookie of the Year and is raising hopes of future championships for the local Cavaliers enthusiasts. Curtain rises in a Wine Bar where bartender Matt, a young white casual dayworker, is alone and mimicking basketball moves and shots with a wadded-up newspaper and garbage can. As he dance-dribbles around the establishment, he’s joined by Shawn, a young black who is working three jobs, and wants to buy Matt’s Season Pass Package. They wrangle and spar over price but find an affinity in the glowing promise of LeBron, who can bring hope of championship glory to their locale. Both men are working survival jobs, but Shawn has a “third job” in writing short stories, for which he has just sold for a bundle, and is hoping to fulfill a dream of attending a big game in a prime seat. Luckily for Matt, who has attended Cavalier games in prime seats all his life - until now when he is forced to sell - Shawn has no companion for the second seat.
Emphasizing their opposing personalities, Matt is fascinated by the daring, initiative and imagination that Shawn has shown in doing creative writing, and most importantly, in leveraging it in the tickets sale. Matt’s world is his locale, and his job is rote but sustainable. He is both comfortable and cranky in that world where people put up but complain tellingly. Shawn, however, is sparked by his writing award bonanza and furthers it into a master’s program in TV Script Writing. Suddenly Shawn is leaving Cleveland for first New York to study and then Los Angeles to find TV work. Matt is bereft of his best, and seemingly only friend.
King James is a two-hander that is marvelously directed and choreographed by Giovanna Sardelli, keeping the action flowing, the use of the large stage imaginative and the production elements moving the narrative. Most outstanding are the actors Jordan Lane Shappell as Matt, and Kenny Scott as Shawn. Their impersonations of each character are vivid, personified and typed, but make compelling sense of the brotherhood peaks and valleys these two men are taking. A sound plot assaults us in key moments with the crowds in the stadium and the buzzers and bleeps of the action which resonate the world of sports. Live-audience cheers for the SF Warriors when the team is mentioned in the script reflect the inspiration and love of the game that is nearly universal.
Is this just a feel-good production? The many sub-themes undercut that simplicity, such as relationships with parents. Matt doesn’t get along well with his parents whom he disparages. Shawn is adored by Matt’s Mom and is constantly in touch with her much to Matt’s chagrin. Matt blames the problems of America and other personal targets for problems he sees, and experiences personally. He wonders why he is not better liked and loved. Shawn has his challenges and disappointments, but by setting his personal bar reasonably, he navigates in a much broader, richer and happier world. His caring and empathy finally break down Matt’s alienation and loneliness and leave us with hope for our own country’s better future.
Production | KING JAMES |
Play By | Rajiv Joseph |
Directed by | Giovanna Sardelli |
Producing Company | TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley |
Production Dates | Oct 9 – Nov 3, 2024 |
Production Address | 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, 94041 |
https:// | |
Telephone | (1-877-662-TWSV (8978) |
Tickets | |
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