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The Review - THEATRE by BEN CRAIB
Published: 18th October 2007

Sleaze, poetry and the hard sell

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
Apollo Theatre

THIS David Mamet real estate drama won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. In 2007 its exploration of extreme consumerism and ball-breaking dialogue remain as fresh as ever.
Four agents struggle to sell plots of land in a cut-throat competition: a Cadillac for the winner, redundancy for the losers. The best sales leads are for the best seller — but how can you be the best seller without the best leads? The pressure is immense, and the salesmen are united by desperation. The impetuous Shelley Levene (Jonathan Pryce) clings onto past glories, his loss of dignity all the more poignant as he first begs and then lays into his much younger manager (Peter McDonald). Richard Roma (Aidan Gillen) is shrill and smarmy, the utterly selfish youngster who gets his way with
metaphysical nonsense. Dave Moss (Matthew Marsh) tries to convince the terrified George (Paul Freeman) that breaking into the office is the only option left. The system is mercilessly divisive, so they become mercilessly individualistic.
Mamet’s skill is to find the poetry in their sleazy machismo. While in Death of a Salesman Willy Loman’s fighting talk is undermined by the level of its delusion, in these guys it’s defiant – even admirable. They are masters of bludgeoning quick-speak, misdirection and confusion, and the tragedy comes less because they kid themselves and more because they lack any
other tools to exist.
Anthony Ward’s design is appropriately dry. The first half set – a Chinese restaurant – is stark and unadorned, and the second half set – a broken-into office – is thrillingly grim and soulless. The acting is uniformly excellent, and James Macdonald’s
production is meaty and precise.
If there’s one thing the play suffers from it’s a uniformity of tone, all angry strutting and
relentless aggression.
But this is a female-less play about a certain type of man. Touchy-feeliness was always out of the question.
Until January 12

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