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Unspeakable: Richard Pryor Live & Uncensored

nytheatre.com review by Richard Hinojosa
August 15, 2005

“Your pain is your comedy,” says Richard Pryor’s fourth and seventh wife in this truly remarkable telling of the life of a man who brought laughter, inspiration, and pain into so many people’s lives. What I particularly liked about Unspeakable is that it is not just about Pryor’s comedy, nor is it a straight-up biography—rather it is a fairly stylized juxtaposition of both his comedy and his life, illuminating the root of his comic genius while simultaneously revealing the real Pryor.The show opens with an exposing stand-up monologue about a night Pryor spent partying with the reputedly wholesome Bill Cosby. The show then turns on a dime and gives us a rather shocking scene from Pryor’s childhood. The show follows this format throughout. The story is mostly chronological but there are some time hops; both backward and forward. We see Pryor slip slowly into the depths of cocaine addiction as he searches for something to satisfy his insatiable desire for pleasure while at the same time he searches for someone to love him for who he is. Finally, he realizes that he must first discover for himself who he is before anyone else can love him for that.Playwright/director Rod Gailes does a good job balancing drama and comedy in this well-researched and insightful script. The structure he creates constantly leaves the audience wanting more: either more snippets of stand-up or more of a peek into Pryor’s private life. I have to admit that I thought I would laugh more at a play about the life of Richard Pryor. However, when I realized that I was watching a (somewhat lengthy) dramatic play, I found that I could not connect to the dramatic action as much as maybe the playwright expected me to. This did not, however, detract from my overall positive experience with this play.It is perhaps Gailes’s directorial choice to create a certain emotional distance from the drama by staging much of the play in stylized fashion. For example, there are ensemble chants and movement scenes, most props are mimed, and the set consists of only a few blocks. I found some of these stylized moments to be among my favorites, and Jorge Arroyo’s lighting design helped to make many of them very eye-catching.The cast delivers an excellent performance. James Murray Jackson, Jr. as Pryor gives a performance that is downright inspired. His ability to physically and (to a lesser extent) vocally impersonate Pryor is at times uncanny. The eight-member cast all deserve acclaim for such fine work.Ultimately, I think FringeNYC audiences will enjoy this judicious look at a man who helped to transform stand-up comedy into what we know it as today.