Clyde's

by Lynn Nottage

A funny, moving, and urgent new play from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage.

In this razor-sharp new comedy, a truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at reclaiming their lives. Even as the shop’s tough-as-nails owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the motley crew of line cooks are given purpose and permission to dream through their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2023

About the author

Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of marginalized people. She is a professor of Playwriting at Columbia University. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; the first in 2009 for Ruined, and the second in 2017 for Sweat.

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nottage can certainly write a mean play, and she's got two Pulitzers to prove it - and this got five Tony nominations for its Bway production, although it didn't win any of them and only managed a 3-month run. For most of this, I was really enjoying it, but I felt it stumbled a bit towards the end, with some heavy-handed symbolism and a rather unwarranted late-breaking romance. And I can see this might be humorous in the playing, but it really isn't very funny on the page.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/th...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lif...
https://variety.com/2021/legit/review...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
https://www.vulture.com/2021/11/theat...

[viktor · Rating 4 out of 5]

lynn nottage you will always be famous
beyond thrilled to assistant costume design for this play

[Kit Gladieux · Rating 4 out of 5]

lynn nottage you’ve done it again

[Dominic Keene · Rating 5 out of 5]

God DAYUM. Lynn, you know your shit. I’m moved as hell. Psyched to understudy for Jason and get to work on this show.

[Alia]

relish is the key to cultural revolution

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great script with memorable characters and excellent roles. I would love to see this show!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

good quick read. a little cheesy (no pun intended) and felt a little bit of a caricature or contrived. i know it's a comedy but some of it felt mocking rather than funny? but maybe that was the point...? something doesn't sit right with me using the personality of felons as comedy and then the lesson itself being felons aren't felons bc when you cannot reduce and essentialize someone's personhood. and just thinking about audiences who go to see this and having to be convinced that "felons" are actual people by buying a ticket to an entertainment show.... i dunno,,, something abt sensationalism in there... i think i'm being too critical of the power of media to change our perceptions but i'm also annoyed at white ppl whose personality is posing as a liberal and saying the right things but whose actions don't follow through.... anyways!

i feel like it just missed the mark in some ways? but reconsidering it now, i think Clyde character helps contextualize the "felon" essentialism/reduction also how it literally makes no sense to treat ppl that way, easy to identify when it's so hyperbolic.

some of the writing just felt too much like it was trying to hard to be natural, i think some of relationships between the characters themselves needed strengthening, again probably dif on stage but just felt liek these were unique characters but not quite connected to each other as they should have been (again maybe THE POINT but didn't feel a concrete/time owned bond between Monty, Tish, and Rafael that Jason completed interrupted)

i did loved Montrellous' takeon sandwhices, geting the ingredients right, not forcing flavors, all that.

i liked scenes 12 to the end of the play. some good Montrellous wisdom, "we can be replaced, but we aren't replaceable"

giving it a 3.5/5 i think i'm too much of a critical snob to enjoy things that are actually good, so i'll work on that and not being so judgemental :-) maybe i'll try Sweat by Nottage next. never really read a play For Fun.... i fear i may rip through some plays here.... :o

[Ethan Cash · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters are just so unlikeable, and their annoying behavior is carried out throughout the show. The first impression I got of the cast was that they were all judgmental of one another. Especially of Jason who is seen wearing white supremacist tattoos. The ex convicts all judge him based on appearance even though he is friendly to them all. This beginning makes all of the characters (save Monty) very unlikeable, and their “redemption” later in the story only comes from when they share their own background and story. But this doesn’t make me like their characters more, rather you’re just giving information about them while not addressing their actual problems of judgement and hostility. The show is essentially about Clyde who is hostile to all of them, but this hostility never seems to be resolved.

On top of this, I felt that the comedy feel very short. While reading the play, I never even realized it was a comedy until I took to the internet to read about it.

Nottage even agrees with my when she says in the words of Montrellous “it’s bitter, assertive. Trying too hard… you wanted it to do too much, and didn’t trust yourself with the ingredients”. The characters are the ingredients in this case, and they aren’t allowed to be true and natural. Their cadence and behavior seems forced and deliberate, not allowing for them to act as true introspective humans do.

[ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a production that I would like to see, especially for the visual comedic moments that I can envision when reading. As well as the emotionally charged choreographed sandwich-making. Those moments that are brief descriptors in the script when staged probably give another context to the story I am not getting from reading just the words. The symbolic themes of redemption, survival, self-love, and acceptance are universal, and I could feel that heaviness from the characters. As this was one of the most produced productions in 2022, I want to find a way to see it because the script is just a blueprint for what I am capable of imagining, and would like to see it fully fleshed out. Overall, it was enjoyable and I need to think a little longer about the power of food, especially the making of the perfect sandwich.

[Michael Galvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read plays I typically like to crank it out in one sitting. But this one I took time reading, just like Montrellous does when crafting a new sandwich order. What began as a slow burn turned into a very cozy and thought provoking play about incarceration, workplace dynamics, homelessness, and chosen family. Out of the scenes, Scene 10 & 13 are my standouts. This script read well and it was easy to visualize what a staged production would look like. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to see one.

[Weston Scheck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the characters created in this world and the nuance of identity Nottage is able to bring to all of her work is staggering. There is palpable struggle from every character, as this job demoralizes them and wears them down. The gradual acceptance of Jason and Montrellous’ final monologue were my favorite moments. I would love to see a full production of this, ESPECIALLY with Uzo Aduba as Clyde.

[Rachel C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good premise but lacked a satisfying resolution. And it had a minor storyline that I particularly dislike: where a man comes to feel that his efforts in romancing a woman entitle him to her attention and affection, and the story both treats him like a great guy and rewards him with her attention and affection.

[Nadja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is Clyde's really a "bright new comedy" or a "hilarious social commentary"? It may seem funnier on stage because of the staging, but the pure text is more depressing than comic. However, if I ever get the chance to see it on stage, I would not hesitate.

[Natalie T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

Even reading this in paperback gave me chills. In performance with good actors and direction, it must be a haunting, unforgettable experience: I hope I get to witness that someday. And how actors must rejoice to see such great characters created for them to play.

Wow.

[James Binz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another victory for Ms Nottage. I would think this is a tough setting for a play but she has made it vibrant and important.

[Korey Grecek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, some of the best dialogue I’ve read recently. Lovely fleshed out characters. Somehow heavy handed with its message while also the message not being clear?

[Pratya Poosala · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO funny and heartwarming, this might be one of my favorite playscripts

[Molly Moorhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

so true, vulnerable, and human! love this play!

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nottage is an old-school master of the realistic theatre. This is perfectly crafted, with beautifully developed characters and a structure that is exactly what any regional theatre would want.

[Cary S · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is probably another instance of “seeing is believing.”

[Evie Drenth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m sure it’s better on a stage but I was quite bored reading it. Maybe I would’ve liked it better if it wasn’t an assigned reading.

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that even if I entered the theatre completely full, I'd still be hungry throughout this play. I'd need an entire sandwich buffet in front of me.

[shefinnaread · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed so damn much watching this, what a delight!