THE REAL WORLD OF REAL ESTATE

F. J. Hartland

David Mamet dissects ambition, greed and real estate in his drama Glengarry Glen Ross, the current offering from barebones productions.

Act One is set in a Chinese restaurant where we meet all the main players—four real estate agents, the office manager and a client.  In the four brief vignettes, we see lying, cheating and all sorts of trickery and deception.

Bingo O’Malley shines as Shelley “The Machine” Levene, a real estate agent whose best days are behind him—think a modern day Willy Loman.

Patrick Jordan plays Richard Roma, the kind of slimy, fast-talking salesman that nightmares are made of, to perfection…right down to his moustache.

In fact the entire cast is outstanding—not a weak link in the ensemble.  They deliver Mamet’s rapid-fire dialogue with a staccato perfection.  And director Melissa Martin does what she can with these static short scenes where people do nothing but talk…and talk…and talk.  And in the Mamet fashion, they talk so much, they even talk over each other.  Act One clocks in at a brief thirty minutes.

Act Two takes us to the real estate office—where a break-in has occurred.  There’s still a great deal of chat—but now there’s action and movement—and no choppy short scenes.  Act Two is longer than Act One—but feels much shorter.

(As a side note, Glengarry Glen Ross also contains another Mamet trademark—a plethora of four-letter words.  They don’t bother me…but if offensive language upsets you, this is NOT the show for you!)

The two sets by Douglas McDermott are as different as night-and-day.  Both are stunning—in different ways.  And kudos to the stage crew who make the major transformation between the two locales in very little time.

As with all barebones production, artistic director Patrick Jordan assembles a team of amazingly talented artists.  I just wish I liked the script better. 

Glengarry Glen Ross continues through November 29 at the New Hazlett Theatre