CROYDEN'S CORNER
by Margaret Croyden
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| Margaret Croyden is a theater reviewer and essayist for the New York Theatre Wire. | |
Glengarry Glen Ross: Nasty Men at Large
By David Mamet
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45 Street
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Reviewed May 16, 2005 by Margaret Croyden
"Glengarry Glen Ross," is one of David Mamet's best plays. It was
awarded the Pulitzer and the New York Drama Critics Award in 1984 and this
production is its first revival. I am happy to report that the terrific cast,
directed by the brilliant Joe Mantello, work as a team, yet each role is cleverly
delineated and portrayed individually . In this play all the men are rotten;
all of them are salesmen who connive, steal, lie, sell false property under
false circumstances, and are rotten to each other and to the poor fools who
deal with them.
Mamet has caught the ambiance of this gang of salesmen (not as Arthur Miller
did in his famous "Salesmen" which depicted the demise of a basically
decent man), but as a gang of thieves with dirty mouths and dirty intentions.
True they are caught up in the capitalist rat race, in a sell or starve mentality,
in a competitive jungle that defines the worst of American culture. Mamet,
true to his anger and hatred for their kind and their occupation, shows no
sympathy for any of them. From his point of view why should he? Never a compassionate
sentimentalist Mamet has always had a dark vision of life; no positive light
shines on any of this characters; they are neither joyous nor hopeful. They
are what they are: lower than animals in a cage.
Glengarry Glen Ross has a simple plot. The all male characters work in a fiercely
competitive real estate office, fighting for the "leads" that would
steer them to possible buyers. The "leads" dominate their daily
lives, their conversations, their aspirations, their motives, their actions.
Without "leads," they cannot sell, but before they are given the
"leads" they need a high selling record. Those with a low score
will get no "leads" resulting in no job, no income, no anything.
So the catch-three rat race is on.
And so the plot thickens: one guy steals the leads in order to sell them;
another lies to a client and loses money on the deal; a third is a patsy and
gets involved in the theft; and all of them argue, scream, curse at one another
in an effort to be top dog. The motto: sell or die. And some one will die--spiritually--
and some will go to jail, and some will win out, as someone always does, by
chicanery and cleverness.
The astounding aspect of this play is David Mamet's ability to catch the tone,
rhythm, and street talk of these unsavory men. The pace of his lines and the
sheer intensity of the dialogue with its repetitions, pauses, and rapid fire
delivery, can be compared to a long piece of poetry. As ludicrous as this
might sound, the play's continuous four letter words and filthy curses are
actually an ingenious accomplishment. Few playwrights can capture this kind
of ambiance through language alone--this loud, harsh, foul, language resembling
the rattle-tattle of a gun among gangsters that fit so perfectly with these
ferocious people.
Joe Mantello knows how to direct Mamet and he knows how to cast his plays.
There is hardly an imperfect moment. The actors: Alan Alda, Liev Schreiber,
Frederick Weller, Tom Wopat, Gordon Clapp and Jeffrey Tambor are completely
believable and handle the difficult lines with aplomb and brilliant timing.
And many of them have a mouthful of lines to learn. Alan Alda in particular
has the longest and most difficult part. The pathetic loser of the bunch,
he is almost a sympathetic character, but in the end he is as bad as the rest.
As an actor, Alda, however, is hampered by own nice guy quality that shines
through despite the tawdriness of his character. Liev Schreiber is a perfect
snake in the grass, and has terrific command on stage although his calling
attention to his body movements --particularly his hands-- is somewhat disconcerting.
Gordon Clapp and Jeffrey Tambor give the best performances, the latter as
a frightened cat, the former as a brazen rat. Frederick Weller as the office
sneak has the least number of lines, but his activities on stage and particularly
his silences tell us plenty about his character.
I have sometimes been critical of revivals because many have lost their relevance
and intensity over the years, but this production of "Glengarry Glen
Ross" has gained in stature. It reminds us that David Mamet is a writer
that retains the force and magnitude that time did not kill. At the end, the
audience gave the cast the usual standing ovation, but this time, it was truly
deserved.[Croyden]
Margaret Croyden's most recent book is "Conversations With Peter Brook, 1970-2000" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
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