The actors do not even get across the threshold into the post-premiere cocktail party before they are ambushed by an ebullient fan.
“You were like Faust!” a literary type tells Greg Weiner, who plays mid-level movie exec Charlie Fox. “Especially with your little red handkerchief,” she adds, in a nod to costume designer Ellis Tillman’s savvy. Just as she is comparing the Gablestage production of David Mamet’s Speed the Plow to a Mozart opera, director Joe Adler steps in to deliver his cast to a room full of waiting theater patrons.
“Mozart!” ingenue/seductress Amy Elane Anderson exclaims as she is ushered away. But she doesn’t escape without hearing from your humble critic that there is just no knowing what motivates her character. Is she a pure soul looking to make movies that make a difference? Or just an even more cunning version of Faust or — what Fox calls her in a signature Mamet turn of phrase — “a pussy wrapped in ambition”?
“You can’t know,” Anderson agrees gamely, as she finally makes her way to the bar.
But Paul Tei knows. For this Gablestage production, Tei plays the role of the rising mogul who succumbs to the Faustian bargain — but the director of Mad Cat Theatre can’t resist dropping a bit of dramaturgy before he slips away.
“She’s the closest thing to Mamet in the play,” Tei explains. And that explains a lot more. Mamet may have discovered that he’s not cut out for the hell that is Hollywood, but the rapid-fire give-and-take of his trash-talking moguls prove that he’s no pussy, either.
Speed the Plow runs through September 13 at 8pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and at 2pm and 7pm on Sunday at the Gablestage, Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Avenue, Coral Gables; 305-445-1119. www.GableStage.org Tickets cost $37.50 – $42.50.
Dear Ms. Fraser,
Like Faust indeed– Mephistopheles in a beard and a red silk handkerchief– except with a post-modern twist that leaves us in doubt as to the “truest script” in this thought-provoking play. As Ms. Anderson must realize, even her script of Grace and Integrity, by its ambiguous authenticity, is play-fully managed by Mamet’s own. And the “buddy movie”, played out in the trash-talking movie moguls, althouhg it seems to win the day as the 2 see their names above the title in the credits, smacks of showmanship and well, “performance”. Kudos, to Mr. Adler for taking a chance with this one, and thanks for the great write-up!