Speed The Plow, Old Vic

 

In my eight years in London I’ve been to the theatre three times. Yes, that’s three times. Horrific isn’t it? You’d think that given my love of cinema that I would also gravitate to the theatre given the obvious similarities and I usually enjoy the rare visits I do make, it’s just that I have absolutely zero interest in seeing a bloody musical about Abba or Queen and ‘The Lion King’ can fuck right off. It’s also difficult to get someone to go with you, I am more than comfortable in seeing a film on my own but going to a play alone just doesn’t feel right. Shame really, given that we have the best theatre facilities on the planet (with the possible exception of New York of course) I should really make more of an effort. Anyway, enough of this rambling nonsense, last night I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Spacy at the Old Vic theatre in ‘Speed The Plow‘, a play by the great David Mamet.

It’s a three hander revolving around two Hollywood executives Bobby Gould (Goldblum), Charlie Fox (Spacey) and Bobby’s secretary Karen (Laura Michelle Kelly). As the play opens Fox has just secured a massive new project, a guaranteed box office smash that is destined to make him and his friend fantastically wealthy. Karen intercedes and seduces Bobby, persuading him to make a different, more ‘worthy’ art film with her as executive producer and to dismiss the shallow, vapid projects that tinseltown churn out. The next day when Bobby confesses his U-turn to Fox a verbal battle ensues, exposing the vipers nest of Hollywood and lengths that everyone will go to in order to achieve money, prestige, fame and power.

Well, lets face it - this would have to a fuck up of spectacular proportions for me not to like this what with two exceptional actors, David Mamet’s machine-gun dialogue and a Hollywood setting - it’s practically designed for Minty. I know absolutely nothing about theatre so I won’t brave any sort of analysis other than to say it is a quite effective critique of Hollywood and the prevailing impulse of commerce triumphing over art. The dialogue is first class clever, brutal Mamet (We’re gonna be so rich, we’re going to have to hire someone just to figure out the things we want to buy’,  ’Life in the movie business is like the beginning of a new love affair: it’s full of surprises, and you’re constantly getting fucked’ and ‘everything’s temporary….until it isn’t') which was delivered with consummate skill by Goldblum and Spacey. Overall it was just so laugh out loud funny which I hadn’t expected, it was more like a straight out comedy than some sort of searing examination of masculinity and the male psyche that you’d expect from Mamet.

I’ve been a fan of David Mamet’s movies and screenplays for years. ‘House of Games‘ is a seminal 80’s film, ‘Glengarry Glen Ross‘ a terrific drama and one of the best play to film adaptations I’ve ever seen, ’Spartan‘ is a much underrated low-key action movie from a few years ago and ‘The Spanish Prisoner‘ is a great con artist movie. Mamet’s trademark dialogue and his labyrinthian plots with their many twists and deceptions really appeal to me, as does the frequent examination of business and commerce and the games and competition they engender in the human animal.

Finally, no - before you ask I haven’t the fainest idea what the title means either.

~ by mintyblonde on April 4, 2008.