Who knew back in 1988, perhaps, that Hollywood executives might be a bunch of shallow, money-grubbing cutthroats? More to the point, however, who doesn't know that in 2012?
Along with the later likes of “The Player,” “You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again” or “Entourage,” we have David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow” to partly thank for that. His caustic drama remains a wholly believable depiction of wheeling and dealing behind closed studio doors. What has diminished over time is its shock value as an “inside” exposé, with nothing much more profound to reveal by now than that there’s a difference between “art” and “entertainment.”
Bobby Gould, a recently promoted studio boss, weighs the options in deciding which of two projects to greenlight.
In one corner is his ever-subservient but increasingly desperate co-worker of many years, Charlie, who’s staking his own career on an assured box-office commodity, an action-packed prison movie. In the other corner is Karen, the new secretary Bobby’s scheming to seduce, who argues the case for an “empowering” film about societal decay and the end of the world.
Operating from a nifty new space in the basement of a Virginia-Highland church, artistic director Grant McGowen’s Pinch ’n’ Ouch Theatre staging of “Speed-the-Plow” owes a lot to the snappy performance of Jayson Smith. His Bobby is suitably slick without being simply smarmy, not exactly likable but textured enough to hold our attention and interest.
As plotted by Mamet (in three 30-minute scenes), Bobby’s transitions can seem abrupt (if not absurd), as he wavers between a friendly allegiance to Charlie and a sexual attraction to Karen, between petty professional considerations and deeper moral quandaries. From one extreme to the other, Smith brings a smooth understatement to the role.
Mamet’s language is characteristically dense and profane, famous for its rapid-fire, often overlapping exchanges of dialogue, where the slightest pause or hesitation disrupts a very precise rhythm. Robert Mello is genuinely grasping as Charlie, but he occasionally struggles to maintain that natural flow. At times, it’s as though we’re listening to an actor remembering all of his lines instead of truly hearing a character speaking.
Mamet is substantially less renowned for writing multidimensional women. Even so, Jackie Costello is largely a waste as Karen. Although she adequately portrays the “vacant” naiveté of the role, there’s scarcely an indication in her performance to support the possibility that Karen may have “ambitious” ulterior motives of her own.
McGowen’s production glides along the surface with a modest style, but the play’s delusions of substance are mostly unfounded. Some 25 years later, Mamet’s cynical reputation precedes him, effectively eliminating any real doubt about which of those scripts will get the go-ahead. Who needs Bobby Gould to tell us that there’s no mistaking common entertainment for high art?
THEATER REVIEW
“Speed-the-Plow”
Grade: B-
Through April 29. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 5 p.m. April 22 and April 29. $25. Selah Center Theatre (at Druid Hills Baptist Church), 1085 Ponce de Leon Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 1-800-838-3006, pnotheatre.org.
Bottom line: More entertaining than artful.
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