Glengarry Glen Ross

Playwright David Mamet’s writing is so distinctive it has its own style of dialogue. “Mamet Speak” is fast, profane and street smart. Characters play with semantics, tumble through jargon and demand the full attention of their audience. Mamet’s 1983 play, Glengarry Glen Ross, about an office of dirty real estate agents imbued with competition for their jobs, is a particularly good example, carried off impeccably by the tight, all-male cast in Black Swan’s latest production. 

The play takes place in two locations, the real estate office and a Chinese restaurant nearby, forming two sides of Richard Roberts’ remarkably detailed revolving set. A conversation between Shelly Levene (Peter Rowsthorn) and John Williamson (Will O’Mahony) opens the play and hooks the audience with a deft flick of dialogue. From there it’s a 90-minute barrage of power play and conversations that crash together like cymbals over a battle scene. Kate Cherry’s direction, as well as the skill of the cast, can be seen in the sheer physicality of the acting – the characters tower and shrink, each with his own idiosyncratic set of body language. 

Parts of Glengarry may dodge over the heads of many not acquainted with the ‘80s method of sales, potentially limiting its reach to demographics alive during that time period. It also mimics the 1992 film a tad closely, but the play is timeless in its quality and its cleverness, and proves an explosively entertaining evening of theatre.