A high quality production of Pulitzer Prize winner “Glengarry Glen Ross” – which will bring a nearly all-female cast to the classic play and film noted for their heavyweight all-male lineups – is set to open Tuesday, January 5, at Jayme Littlejohn’s Bravo! Theatre in west Ajijic.
But local reception of Chicagoan David Mamet’s work – praised by reviewers in the 1980s as a “terrific play” and a “modern American classic” that “crackles with energy” – is uncertain. This unpredictability is mostly due to abundant profanity which many say was once the argot in all-male offices such as the Chicago real estate company depicted in the play. Although Bravo! publicity has been prominently flagged with an “Extreme Language Alert,” it is feared that the sometimes conservative Ajijic audience may be shocked by the swearing, perhaps more so when it emanates from the mouths of women.
“I counted something like 30 f-words in four pages of the script,” said the production’s distinguished Canadian director, Bernadette Jones.
“For me, the blue language is such an important part of the dialogue,” said Kathleen Carlson, who plays office manager John Williamson, depicted in the 1992 film version by Kevin Spacey in one of his earliest roles. “It’s like if you are in the south of London, you expect cockney language. But I’d be sad if someone in the audience walked out because of it.”
If audience reaction is a dice throw, this uncertainty does not extend to those directly involved. From director Jones to the actors playing individual parts, including producer Littlejohn who has been cast as hotshot real estate sales agent Ricky Roma (famously depicted in the film by Al Pacino), it is hard to imagine a more enthusiastic group
“I’m having a wonderful experience,” said Roseann Wilshere, an actor (and director) from Toronto who plays the weak-willed salesman George Aaronow, portrayed in the film by Alan Arkin. “Such great material is written for men, but I’ve never had a chance to work on it. It’s a well known fact there are more women in acting than men – fewer men are attracted to the profession – yet there are fewer parts written for women.’’
Director Jones said she planned from the start to switch genders, although one male actor, Ken Yakiwchuk, was selected for an appropriate role as a real estate client whose wife sends him to the office to demand his money back. “There are a lot of strong female actors at Lakeside. We have at least five former professionals in the cast. Besides, the play has been done by women twice in Canada, once where they were dressed as men, and once where they weren’t. And in Hollywood there’s a reading series that flips gender.
“This is not a feminist statement,” Jones pointed out. “It’s a reality statement. In the 80s, when the play was written, you didn’t see women as judges, or even in real estate. Now [Canadian Prime Minister] Trudeau’s cabinet is 50 percent women. So in this production we see that women can be strong – and behave badly. These are not characters to admire,” she emphasized. “I hope people will be laughing at them, but it’s certainly not Neil Simon. They’re criminals without being behind bars, and they’re so extreme it’s funny.”
“One character is racist,” Wilshere noted. “You want to kill him.
“I was surprised in the rehearsals when the stage crew was laughing,” she added. “The humor didn’t come through in the film. But you laugh because the characters are over the top. They lie, cheat and steal. They’re selling swamp land in Florida. It’s a dramatic but funny play. You could call it a ‘dramedy.’”
“People say ‘Women don’t talk like that,’ but I’m finding it’s not true,” said producer Littlejohn. “At a reading done by professional actresses, it was stunning how much sense it made for women to do it.”
“In Ajijic we have such a competitive real estate market, so they’re really going to understand,” added Wilshere.
Carlson, who besides acting, fortuitously worked in real estate in Chicago, agrees that the play speaks to 2016 audiences. “Mamet developed desperate characters trying to make it in a world that is changing, just like today. How relevant is that?”
“Bernadette has done a wonderful job of casting,” she added. “Who I’m onstage with is important to me, because of the exploration process we go through in rehearsals.”
“I can’t believe the casting is working so well,” agreed Jones, emphasizing that it is a tribute to the actors that the unfolding of the play is very understandable. “Mamet is touted for writing the way real people speak. His characters are constantly interrupting each other, so it’s hard for actors to analyze the script.”
“Bernadette is careful to coach us to get to the emotional truth,” said Carlson. “It’s a difficult play to memorize because the script is unpredictable. To memorize it, you have to understand the scene and the character’s thought process. When I first read the script, I was surprised that it won the Pulitzer prize. But the more I dove into it, I began to understand Mamet’s genius for dialogue. It’s brilliant.”
Some fear the audience may find the play unbelievable because the women actors are not in drag, yet have obviously masculine names (George, John, Dave) and refer to each other with male pronouns.
Yet Jones is undaunted. “Mamet insisted that none of the dialogue could be changed. I hope people will be able to suspend their disbelief – in about five minutes.”
And the intense rehearsals seem to have led some of the actors to suspend their usual speech patterns. “One of the actresses shocked a friend,” Carlson said, “when she sent him an e-mail saying ‘Happy f—-ing birthday!’ He wrote back and said, ‘What’s up with you?’”
Jones surmises that the dreaded negative reaction may never materialize. “People who retire in Mexico are pretty adventurous and open minded,” she mused. “They’re culturally discerning, similar to people who like classical music.
“Some will even come because of the strong language. One guy told me, ‘Oh good – it’s not a cutesy play.’”
“Glengarry Glen Ross” shows at the Bravo! Theatre, west Ajijic on Rio Bravo just south of main Carretera. January 5, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. Matinees on January 6, 10 and 13 at 3 p.m. Tickets 200 pesos, available at Diane Pearl Colecciones, Mia’s Boutique, or e-mail mymytickets@gmail.com.