Glengarry Glen Ross Review

LIES. GREED. CORRUPTION. IT’S BUSINESS AS USUAL.

CLOSE THE DEAL AND YOU’VE WON A CADILLAC;

BLOW THE LEAD AND YOU’RE F****D.

Christian Slater, Robert Glenister, Kris Marshall, Stanley Townsend, Don Warrington, Daniel Ryan and Oliver Green star in this latest production of the ‘deal chasing’ cut-throat sales team in David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.

This fast pace production is directed by Sam Yates and will be performed until the 03rd of February 2018. This award winning play has won every major dramatic award possible since it’s world premiere at the National Theatre in 1983. It’s won Olivier Award for Best Play, multiple Tony Award nominations and even the Pulitzer Award for Drama.

I went in not knowning anything about the production other than the fact that in 1992, the play was turned into an academy award nominated film starring Jack Lemmon and Alpacino.I wanted to see this performance purely for Christian Slater and he didn’t disappoint.

First off I have to talk about the set design. The striking set of a Chinese Restaurant is the first thing you notice as you enter the Play House Theatre and it is certainly impressive. Both sets serve to set the scene for the Play to tell the story of four men who work in the sales industry. They must make sales – first prize is a Cadillac and if they don’t sell they’ll lose their job. Glengarry Glen Ross shows America and its cut throat industry at its finest.

During Act 1, scene 2 of the performance of Glengarry Glen Ross, cast member Robert Glenister became unwell. The performance continued with understudy, Mark Carlisle, taking on the role of David Moss. The cast were very professional during the incident and Christian Slater came on stage to assure the audience the play would go on. We hope Robert feels better soon and wish him the best. Mark must be commended for jumping on stage at a moments notice and despite having to use the script, it wasn’t a distraction at all.

As said before, this is a short fast paced production. The speed at which the actors spit out the lines is at times is head spinning. This coupled with the sales language that was sometimes difficult to understand at times made me a tad confused. It wasn’t until the second act, I’d realised that the ‘leads’ everyone wanted meant names and phone numbers of top paying clients. Once this clicked, I was on the same page as everyone else.

Glengarry Glen Ross is a very masculine play so was as misogynistic as I expected it to be. This could have been a major turnoff but David Mamet’s script focuses more on the language of sales and the relationships between the cast. I thoroughly enjoyed Glengarry Glen Ross and recommend booking tickets as this is certainly going to be a sold out production.

Performances:

Monday – Saturday evening: 7.45pm

Thursday and Saturday matinee: 2.30pm

Christmas Schedule:

Sunday 17 Dec – DAY OFF

Sunday 24 Dec – DAY OFF (Xmas Eve)

Monday 25 Dec – DAY OFF (Xmas Day)

Tuesday 26 Dec – Evening (Boxing Day)

Sunday 31 Dec – DAY OFF (New Year’s Eve)

Monday 1 Jan – DAY OFF (New Year’s Day)=

Website: www.atgtickets.com

Website: www.glengarrywestend.com