30 Mar 2017Size: 215mm x 135mm£16.99
Barbecue / Bootycandy: two plays
Paperback £16.99
Two plays by a leading African-American playwright and director, Barbecue and Bootycandy.
Barbecue is a provocative, hilarious and shatteringly honest take on family drama, first performed at The Public's Newman Theater, New York, in 2015.
The O'Mallerys have gathered in their local park to share a barbecue and some straight talk with their sister Barbara, whose spiral of drugs and recklessness has forced her siblings to stage an open-air intervention. But the event becomes raucous and unpredictable as familial stereotypes collide with hard realities, and racial politics slam up against the stories we tell—and maybe even believe—about who we were and who we've become.
Bootycandy is a semi-autobiographical, subversive comedy about growing up gay and black. It was first performed at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington DC in 2011, and won Best LGBT Drama at the Lambda Literary Awards.
The play tells the story of Sutter, who is on an outrageous odyssey through his childhood home, his church, dive bars, motel rooms, and even nursing homes. O'Hara weaves together scenes, sermons, sketches, and daring meta-theatrics to create a kaleidoscope that interconnects to portray growing up gay and black.
'A searing and sensationally funny comedy about the sometimes poisonous attitude toward homosexuality in black culture… Bootycandy is as raw in its language and raucous in spirit as it is smart and provocative.'
New York Times'Siblings are held together and divided by addiction in Barbecue, Robert O’Hara’s new play… My idea of an American classic, or the kind of classic we need.'
New Yorker30 Mar 2017Size: 215mm x 135mm£16.99