Lucas Hnath’s timely play “Red Speedo” debuted off-Broadway in early 2016, just as actual Olympic qualifying matches were underway to determine members for the U.S. swim team at the upcoming Rio de Janeiro games. His protagonist, Ray, may be fictional, but he’s competing for a slot alongside the mentioned likes of real-life medalists Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.
Five years later, shortly after the belated Tokyo Olympics have ended, artistic director Freddie Ashley’s current Actor’s Express production of the drama feels no less topical, given the recent headlines generated when U.S. swimmer Ryan Murphy raised doping allegations against his fellow athletes from other teams. In Hnath’s play, Ray deals with similar accusations.
Ashley has a distinguished track record staging some of Hnath’s other works at the Express, including “The Christians” (2017) and “A Doll’s House, Part 2” (2019) — the first an evenly balanced story about church congregants on opposing sides of a spiritual debate, and the second a keenly observed period commentary about gender politics and social equality.
One of the comparative and unfortunate shortcomings of “Red Speedo” is that all four of its characters are essentially cut from the same greedy and disreputable cloth, making it decidedly challenging for an audience to side or sympathize with any of them. Ray, for instance, is mainly concerned about the potential doping scandal, not as a threat to the integrity of his personal reputation, or even as a possible obstruction to his Olympic ambitions, so much as because it could cost him millions of dollars in corporate sponsorships and product endorsements.
As portrayed here by Marlon Andrew Burnley, he comes across affably enough as the epitome of a dumb jock who doesn’t know the difference between “psychosomatic” and “psychotic.” As the drama progresses, though, he isn’t entirely convincing as a morally conflicted figure, or as an arguably cunning and conniving manipulator capable of double-crossing the other characters, playing them against one another and exploiting them to his own advantage.
Credit: Casey Gardner Ford
Credit: Casey Gardner Ford
Ulterior motives abound among them: Ray’s ex-girlfriend (Alexandra Ficken), a former sports therapist and dealer of illegal performance-enhancing drugs, is facing criminal charges and financial ruin; his brother/lawyer/business manager (Brian Ashton Smith) will stop at nothing to excuse or justify Ray’s actions, as long as they both get something out of it; and not even Ray’s avuncular swim coach (Rob Cleveland) is quite the upstanding voice of reason he seems to be.
Based on an occasionally tentative opening-night performance, not all of the play’s tit-for-tat dialogue (presumably inspired by that of David Mamet) registers as sharply or briskly as it should. But designer Seamus M. Bourne’s set — an uncluttered locker room, surrounded on three sides by a simulated pool — provides ample space when, inevitably, two of the verbal sparring partners also come to physical blows (fight choreography by Kristen Storla).
Credit: Casey Ford
Credit: Casey Ford
“Red Speedo” is the first in-person production at the Express since the COVID-19-mandated shutdown in March of 2020. While not every theater in town is taking similar measures, Ashley and company are exercising a much-appreciated abundance of caution: proof of vaccination to gain entry; masks required throughout the show (no food or drinks allowed); limited, socially distanced seating. Yes, it’s inconvenient, but it sure beats the risk of enduring another 17-month hiatus from live theatergoing…or worse.
THEATER REVIEW
“Red Speedo”
Through Sept. 5. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays $20-$35. Actor’s Express (at King Plow Arts Center), 887 W. Marietta St., Atlanta. 404-607-7469, actors-express.com.
Bottom line: Shady characters behaving badly.
About the Author
