There won’t be any sports metaphors in this review. Bo Eason is too good for that.
Nor is it necessary to go on and on about jocks who can write. Also a tired cliche and Bo Eason deserves better.
It is important to point out, however, that you do not — I repeat do not — need to know anything about football to be absolutely infatuated with “Runt of the Litter,” Eason’s first attempt at writing plays. The former pro football player has performed his show at theaters across the country with a current stop at Seattle’s ACT Theatre through Oct. 11.
In the end, though, you may not be all that infatuated with the sport of football. Eason presents a powerfully brutal portrayal of that sport complete with chilling off-stage helmet-smashing and bone-crunching sound effects, along with an on-stage scene where Eason actually uses a syringe to inject his battered knees with what we hope is medication, to power-punch lines such as, “He is my brother by blood. You are my brothers by bloodshed.”
Eason’s 90-minute solo — without intermission — delivers dynamite drama blended with some seriously good stand-up comedy and is soon to be made into a movie.
The movie ticket price will be cheaper by far, but seeing Eason’s raw emotion and undeniable talent on stage is well worth paying extra for the live show.
“Runt of the Litter” is a semi-autobiographical chronicle of Bo Eason’s dream — no, obsession — to bust into the National Football League, despite his runt-like size and an older brother who was genetically born to throw a football.
As Jack Henry in the play, Eason does make it to the pros but his rise was always eclipsed by his older brother’s NFL career. And no matter how many knee surgeries, broken bones and sacrifices later, Jack Henry never seemed to grow big enough in his father’s eyes to earn the coveted spot his brother held.
In real life, Bo Eason played safety with the Houston Oilers from 1984 to 1989 with a giant kind of fearlessness. His brother Tony Eason was the quarterback who led the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl in 1986.
On stage, Bo Eason’s Jack Henry takes us inside the locker room before the big game when Henry must face his brother on the opposing team. We watch enthralled as Henry takes us through the years.
His dream began at age 9, when Henry knew that to make it to pro, he’d have to catch 1,000 footballs every day — which he did for 20 years. And he knew he’d be a safety because “when you master safety, you master winning.”
In the final moments of this show, Eason recalls how his father once told him that “you bet on the runt.”
You certainly should put your money on this runt.
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.
“Runt of the Litter”
7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 11 at ACT Theatre, 700 Union St., Seattle. Tickets start at $37.50. Call 206-292-7676 or go to www.acttheatre.org.
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