Between Riverside and Crazy is a 2014 play by Stephen Adly Guirgis.
It is set in an apartment on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Walter "Pops" Washington is a retired policeman who lives in a rent-controlled apartment; his landlords would dearly love to evict him. Although Pops is getting on in years, the reason he is retired is that eight years ago, an NYPD cop shot him six times while Pops was drinking at a dive bar. Pops has a lawsuit against the city, one that he has refused to settle even though many people, including his son Junior, think he has waited too long and missed his payday.
Junior means well, but he is an ex-con who appears to be dealing in stolen goods. His dimwitted but kindly girlfriend Lulu may or may not be pregnant. Junior's friend Oswaldo, who regards Pops as a father figure, is a recovering drug addict. The mysterious "Church Lady", sent by the local Catholic church to look in on Pops, seems to know a great deal about him. And looming over everything is the threat of eviction. Pops's "friend", Lt. Dave Caro of the NYPD, wants the lawsuit settled and is using that threat to try and make Pops come to terms.
Tropes:
- The Atoner: The Church Lady's conscience gets to her and she confesses everything to Pops at the end. She wormed her way into Pops's household deliberately, and pretended to be raising money for an orphanage, in order to scam him out of his money.
- Bad Guy Bar: When Pops got shot, he had been drinking all night in a dive bar known to be frequented by criminal types that had been declared off-limits by the NYPD. Lt. Caro confronts him with this when he says that Pops bears some responsibility for his shooting.
- Battle Trophy: Pops, who knows he has Caro where he wants him, demands that in return for his agreement to the settlement, Caro will hand over the $30,000 engagement ring he gave to his fiancee, Det. Audrey O'Connor. And also, Pops will take Caro's tie. Pops gets both and is wearing the tie in the last scene.
- The Ditz: Lulu is good-looking, and kind, and looks up to Pops, but she isn't very bright.Lt. Caro: What's his prognosis?
Lulu: Oh it's pneumonia now, not prognosis. - Elder Abuse: Oswaldo, who has had a relapse, comes barging back into the apartment and beats Pops up, trying to get drug money. Pops is saved by the doorman of the building.
- Erotic Eating: How to make communion sexy? Have the Spicy Latina church lady plop down in Pops's lap, facing him, and put the wafer in her mouth before she plants her lips on Pops's lips and transfers the wafer. Sex follows.
- Grumpy Old Man: Pops is basically a good guy, providing a home not just for his son but for his son's girlfriend and his son's drug-addicted buddy as well. But he's definitely cranky and irascible.Pops: Take the goddamn dog, and get the fuck out.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Pops has been impotent ever since he got shot. He's shocked when the attentions of the Church Lady give him an erection.
- No Name Given: The name of the "Church Lady" is never revealed.
- Out with a Bang: Averted! Pops does in fact have a heart attack while the Church Lady is riding him, but he survives.
- Parental Substitute: Both Oswaldo and Lulu, who have absentee fathers, call Pops "Dad".
- The Reveal
- The white rookie cop who shot Pops did not call him "n***r" as he did so. Pops made that up in order to get a better settlement.
- The Church Lady deliberately scammed her way into Pops's house, and made up the story of the orphanage, in order to con Pops out of his money.
- Shout-Out
- Lt. Caro won $30K playing in a poker tournament against Ben Affleck.
- Somehow, the view from the roof of the apartment building reminds Lulu of Game of Thrones.
- Time-Delayed Death: Audrey relates a story of how she and her old partner, Pops, were transporting a man they'd picked up in a fight, who turned out to have a knife stuck in his head. On the way to the hospital, the man asked them to stop for beer, and Pops complied and split two beers with the man. After they dropped the man off at triage Pops explains to Audrey that he realized the man was going to die as soon as the doctors pulled the knife out of his brain, so there was no harm done in stopping for beer.
- Villainous Gentrification: Faceless landlords are trying to kick Pops out of his rent-controlled apartment. The NYPD, as represented by Lt. Caro, is trying to leverage this threat to get Pops to settle the lawsuit.
