“The Motherfucker with the Hat” Wickedly Funny, Superbly Acted

Perhaps no Long Beach theatre company is more unpredictable than its oldest, Long Beach Playhouse. I’ve been reviewing them for one-sixth of their 94-year history, and unless I know going in that I’m not crazy about the script (usually I skip those), from show to show I can’t guess whether the performance is going to be everything a theatregoer could ask for or, you know, not. 

The Motherfucker with the Hat is pretty near the former end of the spectrum. It may not be perfect, but director Carl daSilva and his fabulous cast mine Stephen Adly Guirgis’s clever script for its entire motherlode of humor and pathos.

Recovering addict Jackie (Brandon Pardo) is working the program — well, sorta — largely thanks to his gung-ho sponsor Ralph (Noah Wagner, a reliable LB Playhouse workhorse). He’s out on parole, just landed a job, and couldn’t be happier to come home to lifelong love Veronica (Tammy Mora) . . . until he discovers a hat of unknown origin at their kitchen table. And the bed smells like Aqua Velva (not his scent) and someone else’s dick, so he’s about to go off. 

From that opening scene, it’s clear this is a great play. Rarely can a writer land so many jokes so quickly without a misfire, let alone do it in the process of truly developing his characters and their relationship. Pardo and Mora are brilliant together, fantastically funny in their own rights and displaying perfect, natural rapport — and neither falters even once the entire show.

Part of their success is daSilva’s direction, who has blocked the play to near perfection and made sure all five of his actors always genuinely listen and respond to each other, rather than simply reciting their lines back and forth. (Sounds obvious, I know, but more often than not you won’t find this onstage.) Deserving special mention is Giovanni Navarro as Jackie’s cousin. Despite the role’s flamboyance — which Navarro charmingly plays to the hilt — he never loses track of his character’s humanity. 

Because the cast never rushes and never oversells either the feels or the fun, Guirgis’s perfect pacing is on full display. Helping this along is some of the best scene changes I’ve seen in a long time. Yes, there’s no moving of scenery to contend with (which itself is a solid choice, because Greg Fritsche’s subtle split-level frames all the action perfectly), but the way daSilva keeps the ball rolling by quickly moving his actors from place to place in complete blackout while drum-heavy music drops grab our attention is a masterstroke.

The two main things that keep The Motherfucker with the Hat from being a perfect production concern the most physically intense scenes. Twice in the play Veronica fends off Jackie with a prop, and it’s awkward in both cases. Later there’s a full-blown fight scene that doesn’t quite work. It’s far, far from the worst fight choreography I’ve seen, believe me (in fact, the choreography itself isn’t half-bad), but in a play where the acting is this good, a mediocre fight is more noticeable than it would be otherwise.

These, though, are truly forgivable sins in a production that blesses us with most everything we pray for when we take in a night at the theatre. The Motherfucker with the Hat is smart, funny, even touching at times, and Long Beach Playhouse does most everything right to bring it all home. 

The Motherfucker with the Hat at Long Beach Playhouse
Times: Fri–Sat 8:00 p.m., Sun 2:00 p.m.
The show runs through August 19.
Cost: $20 to $30
Details: (562) 494-1014; LBplayhouse.org 
Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach