When I first read the Stephen Adley Guirgis’ The Motherf**ker with the Hat many years ago — having seen numerous productions and acting class scenes from this text — I was instantly a huge fan due to its fast paced crass dialogue and serious global majority representation represented on stage. Now? It is still a fast paced crass play but one that has revealed its unfortunate outdated cracks.

This current Los Angeles revival of the Guirgis play that is now performing at the Odyssey Theatre only accentuates those cracks with severe lack of rhythm and pace and many of their actors miscast despite their best of intentions and energy.

All plays need pace and energy but some are absolutely essential in maintaining a high velocity speed or it falls apart. In more successful renditions of The Motherf**ker with the Hat, the duration should no more than be 90 to 105 minutes tops. With this production, it ran over 2.5 hours with intermission, with much of the pace absolutely being demolished by the most tedious and unnecessary set changes I have ever seen in my life. Adding to the time is that most of the ensemble cast unfortunately did not understand the tempo this play required to thrive with the exception of one who played his part with much fervor and delight.

In the playwright notes, Guirgis writes that any of the characters in this play can be played by any ethnicity. While many of the language and tone strongly suggests that many of the characters should be played by a combination of Black, Latino, and Afro Latino actors, there are astounding renditions I’ve seen where the actors have been of Armenian, Southeast Asian descent and even some white actors who understood the role. That being said, all of these characters have been raised in urban poverty so the most essential thing is that we believe these characters truly did come from the rougher side of the Bronx, regardless of their ethnicity.

This leads me to one of the more peculiar casting choices and that is with Jordan Marinov as Veronica. While Marinov is no doubt a talented actress and I can see that she is acting with all her might, she is so woefully miscast as Veronica that it is hard to take her seriously when her characters state she was raised from the ghetto and that she knows what paprika and adobo are. There is a certain Bronx accent that is glaringly missing and thus taking me out of the performance every time she comes on stage.

The rest of the cast fared a tad better but without that essential understanding of the high octane energy required to send this play off, director Jolie Oliver took considerable amount of time in the actors taking significant moments to say their dialogue when it really should go at lightning speed with gusto and then we can afford the quiet and introspective moments. Out of all the actors, Carlos Moreno Jr. was the most successful not only in pace but the keen sense of rhythm and flow required for this play.

If only the rest of his cast could catch up, with various moments of equality achieved with Lodric D. Collins as Jackie and Alex Désert as Ralph where the last 30 minutes of the play start to finally sync up. Oliver pulls a double duty task of not only being the production’s director but taking on Victoria but suffers from major pacing issues as well.

I mentioned earlier how this production had the worst set changes I’ve ever seen and I’ll elaborate it even further here. With a large stage crew that constantly comes on to shift the scenery and props around (two of them were not as successful as they always had a state of confusion where to go and what items should be placed where), it would take at least a few minutes after every scene and in the world of theatre, that’s a few minutes too long and occurring far too frequently to be acceptable.

While I do take note that this is an independent production that is renting the Odyssey Theatre space and therefore comes with many financial and logistical challenges of their own, it is for that reason that simplicity is key in making subtle cosmetic changes and the audience can believe that this is a different person’s place from the previous one before.

As mentioned before, this is an independent theatre production and it is for that one information piece alone that I commend the team for putting this together in this day and age. It is possible that many of my grievances with this production will be quickly solved with a charge up of energy and intention along with a major simplification of the set pieces and changes. But as even with the improvements, the one thing that can’t be change is the play itself and how outdated it has become since it had its world premiere in 2011. That or I simply do not have any interest in all characters being absolutely repugnant to each other and themselves for the whole duration (some will say it is “morally ambiguous”) so if you find some value in that, perhaps this play may scratch that masochistic side in you.

The Motherf**ker with the Hat is playing at the Odyssey Theatre on 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025 till August 31 — 8pm Thursdays – Saturdays; 2pm Sundays. Tickets can be purchased here.