“Clyde’s” Serves Great Sandwiches With a

Big Slice of Redemption and Optimism

by Pat Lindsey

Making sandwiches at a truck stop on a little back road in Pennsylvania is better than being in prison, but for four ex-cons it feels like just one step away from hell.

Clyde’s is owned by the meanest boss anyone could hope not to have and she treats her employees worse than a warden. Being an ex-con herself, Clyde (Phyllis Yvonne Stickney) knows how to threaten her cooks with fear and the possibility of returning to prison. Rafael has the bruises to prove it.

When I took my seat at The Rep, I wasn’t expecting to relish “Clyde’s.” Instead, I left the theater feeling uplifted, hopeful, and supremely entertained. “Clyde’s” was written by the two-time Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and it is truly a triumph. The subject matter of her play is unfamiliar to most of us and her character development is beyond compare. Somehow Nottage has been able to take dark subjects like prison, homelessness and poverty and make them funny.The entire dramatic comedy is set in a crummy kitchen at the back of the truck stop. That’s where ex-cons Montrellous (Ron Himes), Rafael (Alfredo Antillon), Letitia (Essence Anisa Tyler) and Jason (Brendan D. Hickey) clock in every day to make sandwiches and fries. They each have a desire to be creative and make the perfect sandwich, but Clyde doesn’t appreciate their inventiveness.

She’s content with sticking to the boring menu and serving ham and cheese on white bread. Not even an outstanding review in the local paper gives Clyde the incentive to deviate from the menu. The cooks try to convince her that they could help her make the place a thriving business if she’d let them, but she never gives them a chance. Instead, she’s willing to give them the only job a felon is probably capable of finding when first released from prison.

The conversations the four employees have while they’re working reveal touching stories about their lives, past and present. Satisfying servings of comedy sneak in at perfect times when the audience needs a break from the tyrannical Clyde.Oftentimes Clyde creates the laughter…like the time she announces that she just got a good deal on a big box of sea bass. Rafael eagerly opens the box and is almost knocked over by the smell. He tells Clyde that the fish are spoiled, but she has to find out for herself. One whiff sends her running to the garbage can to vomit, but she tells Rafael to cook the fish anyway. (Why should she care if anybody gets sick?)

Each member of the ensemble cast is outstanding. Montrellous (Himes), who mentors his co-workers in “the gospel of good eating,” is patriarchal, sensitive, and thought-provoking. He inspires the others to create sandwiches that taste like heaven. Letitia (Tyler) is a smart and sassy 30-year-old woman who carries the weight of a disabled daughter on her shoulders. Rafael (Antillon) is more light-hearted as he salsa dances around the kitchen and yearns for love. Jason (Hickey), the most recent hire, is closed off from the others while still regretting the behavior that cost him a nearly perfect life with a good job and a 401K.

And then there’s the devilish Clyde (Stickney) in her bright red wig and tight stylish clothes who doesn’t dare deviate from being bossy and hateful. Each of these fantastic actors has been brilliantly cast by Becks Redma and given remarkable direction by Josiah Davis. Their stage, though old and dingy-looking, has surprising special effects designed by Jean Kim.

If you hunger for a good-to-the-last bite theatrical experience, don’t miss “Clyde’s” now playing at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in Webster Groves now through March 2. The running time is 100 minutes without an intermission. There is some foul language. For more information, go to repstl.org.

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