David Mamet is unquestionably one of the heavy-hitters of contemporary theatre, and perhaps even contemporary literature as a whole. Over the past 30 years his name has become synonymous with a kind of stylized writing that is carefully, artfully structured in order to seem natural. If you find that characterization contradictory, imagine him as the verbal and aural equivalent of Impressionist painting. If a friend describes something as “like Mamet,” he means that the characters speak in short, powerful bursts, each overlapping and interrupting each other to create a sort of haze of words from which slips every now and then a slash of beauty. Words are repeated, but intonation and purpose change; characters vary from quick, easy elegance to vicious vulgarity; it’s like a handful of cynical, dark fireworks.

“People think because you are ‘contemporary’ that your plays don’t have as much value as literature, as a Shakespeare or a Molière… But it absolutely does [have the same value]. Mamet’s words have a rhythm to them that’s undeniable, the same as Shakespeare’s. Every word is specifically chosen. There are a lot of words in there, but it’s very tight. Work, work, work, work,” is how director Teri Loretto-Valentik sums up practising the play.

Structure and technique are what immediately come to the forefront with the rest of the cast too. “I’m amazed at how structured it is, how one thought flows immediately into the next,” says actor Chris Ralph. “It’s like driving a race car, you can’t take your eyes off the road for a second.” Kyla Gray echoes that sentiment: “Even if you aren’t saying anything you are still on. You have to be totally connected to everything the other actors are saying.” The cast is very obviously proud of this level of technical artistry. Even John Muggleton’s admission that “after this I feel I can tackle anything” is more pride than frustration.

Speed-the-Plow was written in the same era as Glengarry Glen Ross and has the same unvarnished look at the clash between art, society, materialism and human character. “Mamet wrote the play while he was living in L.A. and working on films” explains Loretto-Valentik. “The whole concept in this play is ‘Can you do good art as a commodity?’ It’s about Bobby Gould being torn, on the one hand by his best friend in the industry, Charlie Fox, who says ‘Do the prison film,’ and this young temporary worker [Karen] who comes in representing – we’re not sure if she represents the angel or the devil on the shoulder – saying ‘Do this art film, it’s important that people get this message.’”

The play circles around these three characters, never affirming that any one of them is right and another wrong. Chris Ralph finds this aspect intriguing. “It’s so difficult to know who the villain and hero are of the piece. Each character has their flaws. Basically, it’s three people who are each despicable, but each likeable.”

And they are all very likeable. Chris Ralph has long been known to audiences through his comedy and farce work, but in this role he’ll get to “break out of that mould,” according to Loretto-Valentik. She describes John Muggleton as possessing a weary, tarnished sincerity. “I think Bobby Gould needed to have ‘Life shat on me a couple of times,’ you know?” And she describes Kyla Gray as having a “natural charm, a naiveté that’s built into her.”

I love the idea of this play – a likeable cast of sharp people delivering dark words fuelled by the struggle between cynicism, idealism and survival. If any statement better describes the world we live in, I don’t know what that could be.

Speed-the-Plow
By David Mamet
Directed by Teri Loretto-Valentik
At the Gladstone Theatre (910 Gladstone)
October 5-22

As seen in the Ottawa XPress – Sept 29, 2011: http://ottawaxpress.ca/2011/09/29/speed-the-plow-a-hollywood-story/