The Duplex

by Ed Bullins

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688308848
• ISBN13: 9780688308841
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Morrow, William Company In
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Peppery & Literate

Ed Bullins' full-length play "The Duplex" was first presented at the New Lafayette Theatre in Harlem in 1970. William Morrow & Co. published the work in 1971 in hardback. Bullins labels this as "a black love fable in four movements." Bullins successfully weaves 12 characters who share housing in southern California. The lead character is Stevie Benson, a college student who develops a crush on his landlady Velma Best. Velma's husband O.D. is a former Vietnam vet who is now abusive and flits on & offstage with knives, liquor and derision. The men in the duplex repeatedly play cards, drink, smoke and joke. Marco Polo Henderson is Stevie's roommate and son of Montgomery Henderson who is reacquainting himself with his son whose mother raised him away from the dad. Tootsie Franklin is another of their buddies who seems none-too-bright but jovially joins the fray. Mamma & Pops are two aging (mid-40s) alcoholics who live in the building. While there is a lot of good-natured ribbing and put-downs, the play is a love story where Stevie falls hard for Velma and intervenes because her husband is abusive. This story would translate well onto today's stage, 37 years after first presented. Bullins' dialogue is peppery and literate; the action of the play moves swiftly, sometimes lurching forward suddenly. Enjoy!