Comedy And Satire In Sam Richardson's Honky

Honky takes the serious issue of racism and shines a light on certain aspects by using comedy and satire as tools to support and help illustrate topics discussed on stage. My focus of this paper will be on two actors that I believe personify comedy and seriousness the most in this production, Sam Richardson as Dr. Driscoll and Judd Johnson as Thomas Hodge. Richardson and Johnson both focused heavily in these two categories in Mikell Pinkley’s production of Honky, but Richardson’s comedic take on Dr. Driscoll was more engaging and successful than Johnson’s serious and somewhat monotonous portrayal of Thomas Hodge. Richardson’s character physically acted very erratically, which offset serious tones surrounding his scenes. Not only was the physicality amusing, but it also showed that the drug he was selling, Driscotol, would likely have some odd side effects. Some of his facial expressions included eyebrow wiggling, huge and unblinking eyes, creepy grinning, and general twitching. Richardson also used much of the stage to his advantage both when he was speaking, and as other actors were saying their lines. Not only did Richardson move suddenly around others on stage, he also interacted with props and the set. Two of the most memorable examples would be when he practically danced around Jason Collins and when …show more content…
The Dr. Driscoll character was a welcome goofy break and provided the majority of comedic relief, even though it became predictable. On the other hand, Johnson treated his role very seriously through most scenes, and his repetitiveness became exhausting. When he didn’t focus solely on anger and anxiety, Johnson’s performance was enjoyable, but this wasn’t frequent. Overall, both performances were important for exposing themes of the play, but seemed a bit one-note rather than reflective of a true