Laurence Fishburne shows off his mastery of the stage in his new one man show Like They Do In The Movies which is currently running a limited engagement at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City.
The play reunites Fishburne with his Thurgood director Leonard Foglia. The Tony Award winning Fishburne performs solo in the two hour play delivering monologues that are personal to him whether from his life or the lives of others he has encountered. Like They Do In The Movies is an examination of the lies Fishburne has been told and the lies he has told himself.
The show began with a “prologue” of sorts with Fishburne taking the stage to share his parent’s stories his mother Hattie Crawford Fishburne, a Southern Black woman born in the 1930’s who had big dreams that would go unrealized, a big personality, while shrouded under a dark cloud of mental illness. Hattie met juvenile corrections officer Laurence Fishburne Jr. and the couple went on to become the parents of the multi-award winning actor who is Laurence Fishburne III. Fishburne’s parent’s relarionship didn’t last however, and after relocating with his mother to Brooklyn he caught the acting spark at a young age. Fishburne then proceeded to describe the toxic relationship he had with his mother during his childhood which included sexual abuse and drugging, and his emotionally distant relationship with his father. While doing this Fishburne takes on the first three of many characters, Hattie, his father and a young version of himself. Throughout the early segment discussing his parents, Fishburne tells the audience he promises to examine more details about his parents in a later part of the show.
After a quick set background and costume change Fishburne returned to the stage in a suit sharing a story about a man arrested for impersonating a cop while trying to stop fare-beaters, followed by a father trying to make it back to his children after being stuck at a hospital with his wife in New Orleans when the streets flooded due to Hurricane Katrina. Fishburne moves on to tell a story of a homeless car wash employee, an American owner of a brothel in Australia, a cop who knits who killed a man during a racist encounter, then in later half of the second hour of the show Laurence gets back to his parents in particularly his mom. In 2015 media reports discussed Fishburne’s mom’s impending eviction in which his mom had spoken out about not being in contact with her famous son. Fishburne uses time in a segment of the show to give his side while also explaining that he came to understand his mother after she was diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a mental disorder where individuals lack of ability to empathize with others and requiring excessive adoration, attention and praise. Fishburne at the same questions himself did he inherit these traits from his mother in his drive to become the big Hollywood star that he became. The show ends with Fishburne committing to protect and care for his mother in the last years of her life as her health deteriorates despite all the abuse he endured because of her and the lies she told him especially when it came to the identity of his real father.
The strongest parts of the show are in fact Fishburne’s personal story. Fishburne could have chosen to share his personal traumatic story in a book, on television or in a movie but he choose the stage, allowing only a select few who choose to be in attendance the opportunity to get to hear his story. However while the title says Like They Do In the Movies aside from mentioning a few of his childhood film roles, like Cornbread Earl and Me there aren’t any stories pertaining to Fishburne’s experience working in Hollywood during his adult acting career whether behind the scenes or in front of the camera which would have been interesting to hear.
The limited engagement of Like They Do in The Movies runs through March 31st.
Photo Credit:Joan Marcus
