Potty-mouthed Sophistication

William O’Donnell, staff

During the second intermission of Glengarry Glen Ross, a fellow audience member seemed to sum up many feelings about Mametfest with the acceptably vague: “Well, this is certainly different than the theatre we’re used to.” I understand that the “we” this person spoke of would most likely have been referring to the gentleman and his wife, but it still holds true in reference to Winnipeg in general.

Perhaps we have (or maybe just I have) become too cozy with amiable and familiar plays on our main stages this season. True, the Warehouse’s Hardsell is more closely related to Mamet in tone than MTC’s Our Town or The Importance of Being Earnest (though I’m sure some theatre profs might try to argue with me on that), but it’s the language and attitude Mamet’s plays bring to the table that is causing various rumbles in the audiences.

Glengarry Glen Ross contains Mamet’s casually crass language, where swears and racial slurs pop up as commonly as they might on a common naval pier. The language is comparatively tamer than Romance (Black Hole Theatre), the only other Mametfest show I wrote about, but I actually had more issues with the language in Glengarry Glen Ross than with Romance. The reason is not the offensive words themselves, but the manner that they are delivered.

This show opened with aging real estate salesman Shelly Levene (Harry Nelken) conversing with his manager John Williamson (Graham Ashmore) at a restaurant that was to be featured in all three sections of the first act. Now, the language would be harsh throughout the entire show, particularly venomous by the end, but the foul words seemed often out of place coming out of Nelken’s mouth (an actor whom I could not help but associate with his recent appearance in MTC’s Our Town). As Levene revealed his desperation to Williamson, the language became a little more suiting, but until then, I thought the use of foul words sounded token and did not seem natural enough to the character.

Glengarry Glen Ross is very much a character play. Each actor’s physical presence matched their characters very well. Steven Ratzlaff (as George Aaronow) had the slump-shouldered mien of a good guy coming in last, Omar Khan (as Richard Roma) was handsomely slick, and U of M’s own Mike Bell was stealing scenes as a slimy, plotting Dave Moss. I want to give extra kudos to Bell, for every line spoken or action made was pitch-perfect, making his character the most interesting to watch whenever on stage.

Though this play is completely character-driven, it contains an interesting story that is well told by this set of actors. The first act introduces various real estate salesmen who are in the midst of a sales competition as well as a possible plot to stage a robbery of the office in order to sell “leads” to a competitor. The second act continues on the next day and plays out the possibility of the office actually being robbed by some unknown person. I was caught up in the different strings of the plot that never strayed too far from each other without focusing on one sole thing.

When a major truth is revealed at the tail end of the show, the subtext of earlier dialogue changes significantly and gains even more delightful weight. Particularly notable as an example are the first words shared between Moss and Aaronow in the second act. I will not give anything away, but in hindsight after seeing the end of the play, the motivation behind the way in which they greet each other changes completely.

The set was interesting but not distracting, for it suited the direction perfectly (best for one to see what I am talking about than to have me attempt to describe it). The performances were good, though occasionally lacked some of the complete finesse that our main stage productions can be known for. All in all, this is a very good play (Pulitzer Prize-winning at that) delivered by a fine ensemble. Catch it at the MTC Warehouse as part of Mametfest before it closes on Feb. 9.