Published Saturday
April 10, 2004

Review: Talented cast provides grim, funny experience

BY JOHN KEENAN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

At an intimate theater in Benson, director Lorie Obradovich has staged a savagely in-your-face production of "Glengarry Glen Ross," David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a group of desperate real estate salesmen.

She's gathered a great cast. Bill Wassem plays Shelley Levine, a former hotshot who suddenly can't seem to close a sale. Cameron Van Cleave is Richard Roma, the current king of the closers. Don Nguyen is the unsympathetic office manager, John. And Michael Coyle is the twitchy sad-sack George.

With John Carlson, Matthew David and Scott Fowler rounding out the all-male cast, the actors treat the audience to a gritty, grimly funny ride.

The play opens with Shelley pleading with John for good sales leads. Wassem and Nguyen stay right with each other through Mamet's rapid-fire dialogue as Shelley, increasingly desperate and profane, tries to persuade John to give him the "good" leads.

Shelley hasn't closed any sales lately, but with good leads, he says, he can get back on top.

Nguyen strikes the right note as John - initially, it's unclear whether he's unable to help Shelley or only unwilling - but Wassem is particularly memorable as Shelley, an old-schooler trying to convince John and himself that he's still a closer.

With the appearance of Van Cleave as Richard Roma, though, the play soars. Roma's is the best role - an outsized, hail-fellow-well-met personality who can be alternately friendly and vicious, all in the service of getting what he wants.

It's a great part for Van Cleave, a charismatic actor who is at home in the spotlight and who can handle small touches - a sly grin, an insinuating tone - as well as big moments.

This play is an adults-only affair, with vulgarity and cigarette smoke fairly thick in the air.

A second-act showdown between Roma and John is particularly memorable - oddly, while Van Cleave does nearly all of the heavy lifting, most of the time yelling in rage, Nguyen's silence in response is also striking, an example of what a good actor can do with no lines at all.

By the time the play winds down to its conclusion, the audience will be drained but satisfied.

"Glengarry Glen Ross" is an intense experience, an experience made all the more exciting by the all-out efforts of the talented director and her cast.