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Review: Glengarry Glen Ross

It was a pleasure to spend my Sunday evening being treated to three scenes from David Mamet’s enthralling study of competitive capitalism. The play depicts four men who are forced into a cut-throat sales contest to sell dud tracts of Florida land. Set over two days, the men engage in multiple unethical and illegal acts such as lies, bribery, threats and burglary. It was clear from the first scene I watched that it would be the complexity of the characters, not their lack of virtue, that would command my attention.

At first, I watched a scene between Lloyd Houston, playing Shelley Levene, and Ziad Samaha, who plays the office manager John Williamson. In the scene Shelley tries to convince John to give him the names and numbers of promising potential clients for expensive properties. Houston’s thoroughly gripping performance was emphasised by the still and convincing mannerisms of Samaha whilst the simplistic setting only helped to further the engaging quality of their performances. It was immediately obvious that this cast had been committed and determined to convey strong and convincing Chicago accents.

The next scene presented Dave Moss (Jordan Waller) in a bid to convince George Aaronow (Joe Bayley) to stage a burglary and steal all the prime leads. The chemistry between these two actors was unquestionable, feeding and working off each other exceptionally well as Dave’s ruthlessness when compared to George’s naivety managed to encapsulate the struggle between power and morality. Notably Waller’s performance and the atmosphere of intimidation he created would be enough to sway the mind of any man with strong fortitude.

Both the tone of voice and physicality employed by each actor created this convincing and intriguing relationship. It must be noted that Jamie Macdonagh’s direction is equally commendable for the success and intense feel of these two scenes. His ability to keep direction and movement to a minimum allows the actors a much needed freedom to explore and express the inevitable darkness of their characters.

The final scene centred on a monologue delivered by Will Hatcher, playing Ricky Roma, directed to the potential purchaser of real estate James Lingk. By pitching each actor at opposite sides of the stage palpable tension was created between the men as they waited for Lingk’s eventual movement towards Ricky. Hatcher’s stage presence is unmatched and his performance truly encapsulated Ricky’s inherent ability to craft a sales pitch that exploits the weaknesses of the client.

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