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Bootycandy
Robert O'Hara's semi-biographical subversive comedy exploded onto the New York theatre-scene with a critically lauded production at Playwrights Horizons. Bootycandy 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. Robert O'Hara's uproarious satire crashes headlong into the murky terrain of pain and pleasure and... BOOTYCANDY.
96 pages, Paperback
Published December 31, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 27, 2024
I love this play and have taught it twice now. I taught it yesterday and my students (all seniors and grad students) and I had a great experience.
The huge sticking point for students is the sequence with Clint, Larry, and Sutter, of course. My takeaway for that sequence, though, is that O'Hara paints himself into a corner and cannot get himself out. So he does the clever thing – to break the play (a convention he's already set up in act one) and call out the confusion he has created ("What's the audience supposed to think?" one of the characters asks). But O'Hara deliberately confuses us in terms of both sexuality and consent. Clint consents, begs even, and then Larry tells us that Clint was raped. Clint is straight, but then he tells us he wants to be fucked by the two men. It's impossible to make sense of this sequence, and that is purposeful. And if we're paying close attention, I think O'Hara is reminding us that the homophobia and sexual violence that Sutter experienced as a child are damaging – and deeply so. So O'Hara does not allow us to imagine that Sutter is fine and fabulous now and so that all he endured as a boy is water under the bridge or "worth it" or whatever. Sutter is damaged. And that damage asserts itself in ways that are inexplicable and unexpected.
The other brilliant thing is that O'Hara has made a play about black communities that is not about blackness as such. This is not a play about race or racism. They do not appear in the play at all – except in the playwright sequence that ends act one. The playwright sequence makes this move explicit. O'Hara does not want his characters or these scenarios in Bootycandy to stand in for blackness. Plays with all white people aren't (usually) about whiteness or race as such. And O'Hara is telling us that his play isn't either.
The huge sticking point for students is the sequence with Clint, Larry, and Sutter, of course. My takeaway for that sequence, though, is that O'Hara paints himself into a corner and cannot get himself out. So he does the clever thing – to break the play (a convention he's already set up in act one) and call out the confusion he has created ("What's the audience supposed to think?" one of the characters asks). But O'Hara deliberately confuses us in terms of both sexuality and consent. Clint consents, begs even, and then Larry tells us that Clint was raped. Clint is straight, but then he tells us he wants to be fucked by the two men. It's impossible to make sense of this sequence, and that is purposeful. And if we're paying close attention, I think O'Hara is reminding us that the homophobia and sexual violence that Sutter experienced as a child are damaging – and deeply so. So O'Hara does not allow us to imagine that Sutter is fine and fabulous now and so that all he endured as a boy is water under the bridge or "worth it" or whatever. Sutter is damaged. And that damage asserts itself in ways that are inexplicable and unexpected.
The other brilliant thing is that O'Hara has made a play about black communities that is not about blackness as such. This is not a play about race or racism. They do not appear in the play at all – except in the playwright sequence that ends act one. The playwright sequence makes this move explicit. O'Hara does not want his characters or these scenarios in Bootycandy to stand in for blackness. Plays with all white people aren't (usually) about whiteness or race as such. And O'Hara is telling us that his play isn't either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2020
Holy FUCKING Shit
March 19, 2024
[2.5 Stars rounded up]
I see exactly what this was trying to do and to be, I just wasn't the target audience. There is nothing inherently wrong with this piece, I just didn't really like it. And that's okay! It happens.
I see exactly what this was trying to do and to be, I just wasn't the target audience. There is nothing inherently wrong with this piece, I just didn't really like it. And that's okay! It happens.
Read
November 7, 2019I read it, I have no idea what to rate it. It's certainly a play.
September 17, 2021
CW: r*pe
Knocked off a star for one scene that I personally found gratuitous and triggering. I understand it’s purpose but...naw.
When I say “Kung fu” sent me though...
Knocked off a star for one scene that I personally found gratuitous and triggering. I understand it’s purpose but...naw.
When I say “Kung fu” sent me though...
February 2, 2024
The script on its own is a 3.5, but the 2023 London production was an easy 5*.
Here are my notes from the production to enhance the reading experience:
- try to imagine the Southern accents from Sutter and his family. Sutter's is subtle, his Gran's is thick and his mother is switches somewhere in between. When watching the performance, this greatly enhanced the way they interact, but isn't always clear in the script.
- music is STRONG in this play. Many lines are partially sung with dramatic flair imagine powerful (almost) gospel campness wherever you feel it fits.
- Act 1, scene 3: imagine two bold, sassy women on the phone, then dramatically switching wigs with increasingly exaggerated performances with each character/wig change.
- Act 1, Conference scene: The host is comically "out of touch", and try to imagine Writer 2 (with her Pulitzer) being Angela Basset doing an exaggerated caricature of herself - the delivery of the later lines are EVERYTHING
- Act 2, Scene 1: the parents are like 70s sitcom characters, a hilarious yet unsettling contract to Sutter's serious performance.
Loved the UK premier of this so much that I immediately purchased the script. It is incredibly queer, black and manages to be hilarious yet also effectively looks at various traumas.
Here are my notes from the production to enhance the reading experience:
- try to imagine the Southern accents from Sutter and his family. Sutter's is subtle, his Gran's is thick and his mother is switches somewhere in between. When watching the performance, this greatly enhanced the way they interact, but isn't always clear in the script.
- music is STRONG in this play. Many lines are partially sung with dramatic flair imagine powerful (almost) gospel campness wherever you feel it fits.
- Act 1, scene 3: imagine two bold, sassy women on the phone, then dramatically switching wigs with increasingly exaggerated performances with each character/wig change.
- Act 1, Conference scene: The host is comically "out of touch", and try to imagine Writer 2 (with her Pulitzer) being Angela Basset doing an exaggerated caricature of herself - the delivery of the later lines are EVERYTHING
- Act 2, Scene 1: the parents are like 70s sitcom characters, a hilarious yet unsettling contract to Sutter's serious performance.
Loved the UK premier of this so much that I immediately purchased the script. It is incredibly queer, black and manages to be hilarious yet also effectively looks at various traumas.
April 28, 2024
Similar to another review, I can definitely see what Robert was trying to accomplish, it just missed the mark for me.
I will say there were parts that made me genuinely laugh as I’m familiar with those types of people in real life but I read this play more like a book made up of several individual scenes rather than one coherent play.
However that being said, there is a conversation within the play in which the character actually says, “I don't want to them digest it easily as it was hard to write, so it shouldn’t be easy to experience. It shouldn’t melt in your mouth, the work should work” – so if that was the overarching goal, then by all means you achieved it!
Sidenote from a fellow gay, I do genuinely appreciate that this story was written/inspired by a hard experience, I won’t say what for risk of spoilers, so for that reason alone I think the play deserves some respect as art is subjective.
I will say there were parts that made me genuinely laugh as I’m familiar with those types of people in real life but I read this play more like a book made up of several individual scenes rather than one coherent play.
However that being said, there is a conversation within the play in which the character actually says, “I don't want to them digest it easily as it was hard to write, so it shouldn’t be easy to experience. It shouldn’t melt in your mouth, the work should work” – so if that was the overarching goal, then by all means you achieved it!
Sidenote from a fellow gay, I do genuinely appreciate that this story was written/inspired by a hard experience, I won’t say what for risk of spoilers, so for that reason alone I think the play deserves some respect as art is subjective.
September 10, 2024
so often the vignette style play doesn’t work for me, but this one tied itself together nicely. i enjoyed connecting the pieces. it was unpredictable! and though provocative and gratuitous, it was self-aware in a way that held a more delicate emotion than just a sort of moral presentation. i think the ending was a hard task, but ultimately landing in this hurt-comfort/pleasure-pain place felt true to the piece and its heart. i can’t really say what the play was “about,” but it inspired a lot of thematic consideration.
on the axis of pain and pleasure, i’m trying to disentangle at different points - whose pain, whose pleasure and how the same sensations can have very different significance when those things are toggled. what are the stakes when we skewer ourselves? when does power switch hands? language starts to fail for me, but maybe that is the question of consent. the play challenges us to see what is really being said, not just what we are being shown.
on the axis of pain and pleasure, i’m trying to disentangle at different points - whose pain, whose pleasure and how the same sensations can have very different significance when those things are toggled. what are the stakes when we skewer ourselves? when does power switch hands? language starts to fail for me, but maybe that is the question of consent. the play challenges us to see what is really being said, not just what we are being shown.
July 30, 2019
I met Robert O'Hara in 2002, when I wan an intern at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and we did a workshop reading of his BEOWULF. Fast forward two years and I was assigned scene work from his play INSURRECTION: HOLDING HISTORY in my Directing class in Grad School. Fast forward 11 years, and I direct INSURRECTION: HOLDING HISTORY in my second season at SUNY Sullivan. It is such a joy to read his plays. They are so specifically idiosyncratic to O'Hara/original, yet, familiar; they take fun twists that a director can dream on; they have awesome dialogue and monologues; and they speak to an audience that needs to hear some complicated conversations through the aperture of humor and biting wit. This play is no different. I loved it from start to finish.
October 2, 2020
An incredible modern black comedy that investigates the intersection of Black and LGBTQ+ identities, and turns your expectations on their head. It has some fantastic comedic moments - the "Genitalia" scene in particular is absolutely hilarious! - but at it's heart BootyCandy has much more to say. O'Hara intentionally makes their play uncomfortable, which is exactly what it needs to be. In the end you may not come away with any "answers", but perhaps you will come away with a new perspective. That is what makes this play a truly great piece of theater.
July 9, 2018
This play had a LOT going on. It’s a no-holds-barred look at what it means to be gay, black, and an artist in America. In a series of connected vignettes, O’Harra semi-autobiographically tells the story of Sutter and the world around him. The play packs a lot of punch, moving from wildly hilarious to dark and twisted, ending in a deeply touching scene (with meta theatricality sprinkled throughout). Decidedly not a family play, but that’s part of what makes it great.
November 22, 2024
would highly recommend reading this in one or two sittings i think that’s the only way to absorb all he is weaving together. already wrote a long discussion board post abt this. he uses a non conventional storytelling structure to weave together narratives about sexuality, queerness, blackness, sexual violence, generational shit while posing and pushing the question of how to portray these themes of identity in the current cultural climate.
also just some rly good funny moments in there
also just some rly good funny moments in there
March 22, 2021
Appreciated the humor and how the scenes were tied together. But I don't know. Calling out specifically for the curtain call to be dedicated to MJ loses a star for me. Pre-Finding Neverland this probably would have seemed fun. Post doc it seems controlling on the part of the playwright and a bit cringe.
November 20, 2022
A great readalike to Brian Broome's memoir. This playwrites life contained more emotional abuse, Broome's memoir elucidated memories of an inebriated parent. But both follow young Black boys2men growing up poor/working class and gay.
January 16, 2023
Very beautiful play with laugh out loud moments, moments that make you weep, moments that make you close the book and think. It gets better every read with new clever details in the way this play written.
February 7, 2018
Completely absurd semi-autobiographical play about the playwright's coming-of-age as a gay man.
Read
March 31, 2020(Play discussion group script #31)
April 20, 2020
I'm sure this is an amazing play, but reading it falls just a bit flat. Probably closer to 3.5 stars though.
December 16, 2020
Would have loved to see this produced
February 17, 2021
Robert O'Hara's "Bootycandy" is like SNL if it actually took risks far funnier. That said, the play's humor belies a complex interior.
November 1, 2022
I really liked how self-aware this piece is. This is one that I would definitely need to see fully staged to fully appreciate.
April 17, 2024
WOW. This was very very good. Especially 'Drinks and Desire' on. The metatheatrical elements (throughout but particularly in act two) really sang for me.
March 4, 2025
fundamentally altered my brain chemistry
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