Front Row Centre reviews GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

Theatre Review: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

By Mark Andrew Lawrence, Front Row Centre

 

No one writes dialogue the way David Mamet does. His profanity-laced streams of consciousness styled speeches sound natural without actually resembling the way people talk. In GLENGAERRY GLEN ROSS a group of salesmen are hustling Florida real estate of dubious value. It is a cutthroat business and the ruthless characters create theatrical sparks both funny and shocking.

 

Mamet's play was an instant classic when it was first produced over 20 years ago and it is no less of one now. Obstructed View Productions is a new dynamic theatre troupe designed to showcase the talents of University students giving them an opportunity to display their acting range. Their choice of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, a play normally performed by a team of older actors, gives them a chance to do this and for the most part they succeed.

 

It takes a special skill to make David Mamet's dialogue play with ease, and most of the cast here are up to the task, with the rest coming through in varying degrees of success.

 

As Shelly Levene, the Willy Lomanesque older salesman who no longer has the Midas touch, Jonathan Grosz is too young for the role, yet he makes it fully believable due to his commitment.  A little makeup and hair styling could also help make him look older, but he understands the character and delivers a fine performance.

 

He is matched by Jonathan Linds as his nemesis, John Williamson. This is the office manager we have all encountered: all business, no emotion and tough as nails.  Linds never wavers in his approach and from the first scene to the last we witness a perfect marriage of an actor with a role.

 

The same can be said of Andrew Morris as the top salesman, Richard Roman. He dominates every scene he is in as he spews a dazzling mix of profanities and philosophical pronouncements with precision.

 

Operating on a totally different level is Aaron Feldman as James Lingk, bringing a dopey innocence to the character being "sold" by Roma. This too is a role usually played by an older actor but Feldman mixes charm and naiveté to make the character three-dimensional.

 

Daniel Rosen is less successful as nebbish George Aaronow. Again the actor appears to be too young for the role, and the script gives him less to work with, but somewhere along the way instead of making an impression he fades into the woodwork. The scene he plays with Tony Cushman as his co-conspirator should be loaded with tension but the two actors seem mismatched with the roles and the scene falls flat. This is crucial because it is the central scene of the first act.

 

If director Mitchell Cushman was unable to salvage this sequence he has done an admirable job with the rest of the play. He has staged the tightly paced scenes in a small playing area, which makes the blocking at times a little awkward, but one can sense the tension in this claustrophobic office. Everything is there for the actors to create sparks, which indeed they do.

 

 

 

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS continues in the Tank House Theatre at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts through Saturday August 26^th. Evening performances are at 8:30 with a matinee at 1:30 on Saturday. Tickets are $20 and available by calling 416.866.8666.

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