Good Sports: ‘King James’ at City Theatre

Some years ago, on a visit to eastern Tennessee, I noticed a bumper sticker I’d never seen on any vehicle back home in Squirrel Hill: “If it ain’t King James it ain’t Bible.” The memory resurfaced after I watched City Theatre’s King James—a play about two basketball fans—and it prompted a deep train of thought.

James I came to the throne of England in 1603, after the death of the great Queen Elizabeth I: a tough act to follow. LeBron James came to the NBA in 2003, right after the retirement of the great Michael Jordan: likewise. 

There are people in America who believe that the English Bible translation ordered by James I is the definitive version, the greatest of all time. Likewise, as the play at City Theatre makes clear, there are people in Cleveland who believe that LeBron James (a.k.a “King James”) has surpassed Michael Jordan as the definitive hooper, the greatest of all time. 

And Shakespeare: What about Shakespeare? Well, he wrote during the reigns of both James I and Elizabeth I. And there are theater fans today who won’t go to the theater unless it’s to see Shakespeare, or something they think will be equally profound and timelessly great. 

I would suggest that these theater fans reconsider. Granted, King James (through May 11) ain’t Shakespeare. But the play is a very good, very engaging and enjoyable two-hander. Although I’m a pretty picky consumer of culture myself, the kind of person who reads literary fiction by Nobel Prize winners in his spare time, this seriocomedy by American playwright Rajiv Joseph sucked me in. I found myself feeling and rooting for the characters (played spot-on by actors Robert Hunter and Michael Patrick Trimm). Along with the opening-night audience, I enjoyed good larfs at the silly parts, which are numerous. 

Furthermore, believe it or not, the play might even convey something profound. If one were writing a term paper, or an article for a scholarly journal, one might construe King James as a clever exploration (and perhaps indictment) of stereotypical concepts of masculinity, as expressed in the portrayal of male bonding within the context of our national obsession with spectator sports. 

Indeed, there’s a scene in which the two guys are debating whether it’s time to give up their shared obsession with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. One guy compares the phenomenon to an addiction: “It’s sick,” he says. To which the other says “No, it’s an orientation.” 

I laughed so hard I nearly pulled an abdominal muscle. Maybe you had to be there. Then again, maybe you should be. 

The Game Plan, the Vengeful Deities

In crafting King James, playwright Joseph came up with a plan that combines two story lines, both unfolding over the course of about 15 years. The main story is fictional, tracing the lives of the characters Matt and Shawn (Trimm and Hunter, respectively) who meet as young men and remain friends, more or less, into early middle age. The nature of the friendship oscillates and evolves, partly because each man goes through ups and downs in his budding career. And wouldn’t you know, it seems that every time one guy is riding high and thriving, the other is wrestling with the fickle demon called failure. 

Tricky enough? Not by half. Enter the second story line, based on true events. Matt and Shawn have bonded initially through their passion for the hometown Cavaliers—and by extension, their passion for the young superstar LeBron James. Surely, they believe, LeBron is going to lead the Cavs to an NBA title—thereby giving the long-suffering sports fanatics of Cleveland the city’s first championship in any major professional sport since Lyndon Baines Johnson was president. 

Eventually, LeBron will deliver. But only after he tortures Matt and Shawn through 13 years of near-misses and heartbreak. The worst is a faithless-lover period when LeBron leaves the Cavs to spend a few seasons with the hated Miami Heat, and wins two titles with THEM. So great is the agony that it drives Shawn to compare LeBron to the God he learned about as a child in Sunday school: “Both are vengeful deities that promise salvation.”

Artistically speaking, King James has a very complex script. It launches the characters into multiple emotional orbits and dizzy trajectories simultaneously, like a ferris wheel inside a roller coaster. And yes, that’s a stupid analogy, but deal with it. Just as the playwright and creative team have dealt skilfully with the play’s challenges. Virtually no time is wasted on laborious exposition; it’s all worked into the action seamlessly. The result is a smooth ride through bumpy times, giving the audience a clear picture of how two men learn to deal with their wacky lives. And with one another. 

Smart (and Dumb) Choices

A play like this one could’ve been done lots of different ways. For example, imagine a script that casts the men as rowdy blue-collar sports fans. Too predictable! In King James, Shawn is an aspiring young writer when we meet him. He’s recently deposited a nice check from his first published short story, and aims to write the great American novel. Matt, when we meet him, is a bartender—less intellectual than Shawn but no dummy, and a dude aspiring to open a high-end sports bar and eatery of his own. Thus a high-hopes tone is set from the start. Also the stage is set for high comedy, as we quickly see that despite their dreams and their capabilities, the guys have goofy sides. Of which their infatuation with LeBron the King of James is one dimension but not the only. 

Shawn will struggle to write even the mediocre American novel. And Matt—ah, sorry, no spoilers. Although I will mention that Armand’s Antiques, the junk shop owned by Matt’s parents, becomes a bottom-of-the-barrel employment haven for lost sheep, and figures prominently in the play at certain points. As does its taxidermied mascot, Armand the Armadillo. 

The two guys get into some fierce bickering. Much of the comic relief—and many moments of sheer comic exhilaration—come not from snappy lines of dialogue, but from the actors’ body language: the strutting and show-offery, the pretended hoops moves, the badly concealed expressions of disgust or disbelief. This makes it a complete play, with not only verbal acrobatics but also the physical kind. 

And in the end, do Matt and Shawn kiss and make up? I don’t know about the kissing. Let’s simply say that, flawed as they are, the guys are good sports. 

Closing Credits and Ticket Info

Rajiv Joseph’s King James is directed by Monteze Freeland. The play is a co-production of City Theatre and Cleveland Play House, where it ran in March before moving here. See it through May 11 at 1300 Bingham St., South Side. For tickets and further information, visit City Theatre on the web. 

Scenic design is by Tony Ferrieri, assisted by Tucker Topel. Jasmine A. Golphin did the projection design, which features a sports-arena-style screen above the stage (where you can see video of real LeBron). Lighting design is by Jakyung C. Seo, sound by Howard Patterson, and costumes by Jeffrey Van Curtis. Jeffrey Ullom served as the dramaturg, and the stage manager is Taylor K. Meszaros.

Photos by Roger Mastroianni.

Mike Vargo, an independent writer based in Pittsburgh, reports on theater and the visual arts for Entertainment Central.  

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