Heartbreak and Laughs in the 'Hat'

Jackie’s life as he knows it is falling apart after his release from prison in upstate New York in Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s production of “The Motherf**ker with the Hat” by Stephen A. Guirgis, running from March 7 to 14 in the Loeb Ex. Hoping to start afresh with his lover, Veronica (Ema H. Horvath ’16), Jackie discovers a mysterious man’s hat in his cocaine-addicted girlfriend’s apartment, which leads him to conclude that Veronica has cheated on him. The relational dynamics between the characters are forever shifted when Jackie (Tim C. Moan ’14) learns that the owner of the problematic hat is his own A.A. advisor, Ralph (Dylan J. Peterson ’17)—just one of several betrayals revealed during the play. While the emotional and moral content of the show might have been melodramatic and downright depressing, the skillful acting of the cast rounds out characters beyond mere sketches of people from the wrong side of the tracks.

The cast is able to successfully embody the flawed individuals that populate the production. Horvath displays both great acting chops and great chemistry with Moan, bringing to the forefront her character’s inherent self-destructiveness. While Veronica counsels her mother about having self-worth while snorting cocaine, Horvath vacillates deftly between her character’s inherent self-destructiveness and her hope to be something better such as when Veronica counsels her mother about having self-worth while snorting cocaine. Jackie’s cousin, Julio (Dan S. Milaschewski ’17), brings the most levity of any character in the show, alternately advising Jackie and longing to be his older cousin’s friend. In his cautious eagerness, Milaschewski brings not just laughs but some tenderness to a show otherwise devoid of it; his acting is nuanced and well executed. In a similar fashion, the acerbic loneliness and desperation of Ralph’s wife, Victoria (Kathleen S. O’Beirne ’15), might have alienated the audience’s sympathy, but O’Beirne’s refined, natural performance instead underlines how monstrous Ralph really is.

The tight sequencing of fast-paced scenes that gave the production punch is possible due to the excellent set and lighting in the Loeb Ex’s black box. Scenes take place in three locations, which are all present the duration of the show in the black box. Credit is due to set designer Renee E. Zhan ’16, who colorful partitions the Loeb Ex into three different settings: Ralph and Victoria’s home, Veronica’s small apartment, and Julio’s place. The arrangement of set pieces with bright wall colors prevented the black box space from engulfing the actors, instead allowing action to flow from one room to another depending on which was lit. As the various spaces didn’t require time between scenes for the shifting of set pieces, lighting by light designer Adam O. Brodheim ’16 set the pace at an appropriately rapid clip, particularly during Jackie’s rage as he goes between Ralph’s and Veronica’s houses. Rounding out the technical achievements of this production is the sound, from the incidental music chosen to the Commodores played by Jackie: it set the mood without overpowering or satirizing the Puerto Rican elements of the play.

The one confusing detail of the play was the aforementioned Puerto Rican component. While the accompanying music and some intermittent Spanish usage between Jackie and Veronica initially indicated that both is Hispanic, Horvath carries on her stylized performance throughout the play, while Jackie seems to undergo a transformation and drop his Latino persona after the first scene. However, the impact of the play is not much changed by Jackie’s discontinuity of character from that initial scene, as more important traits—his staunch desire to do the right thing despite his lifelong tendency to do otherwise and his broken-heartedness over Veronica—remains throughout the show. With a great cast and excellent technical elements, “Motherf**ker with the Hat” is a heartfelt, enjoyable experience.