Thursday 16th July to Saturday 18th July and Tuesday 21st July to Saturday 25th July 1992
Directed by Pete Woodward
We are in a real estate office. There is a sales contest near its end. Four salesmen have only several more days to establish their position on the sales graph. The top man wins a Cadillac, the second man wins a set of steak knives, the bottom two men get fired. The competition centres around the sales leads, with each man trying desperately to get the best ones.
'Glengarry Glen Ross' was written in 1982 and was given its world premiere in the Cottesloe Theatre of the Royal National Theatre, London in September 1983. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts - from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation, and burglary to sell undesirable real estate to unwilling prospective buyers. The play draws partly on Mamet's experiences of life in a Chicago real estate office, where he worked briefly in the late 1960s. The title of the play comes from the names of two of the real estate developments being peddled by the salesmen characters, Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms. The world premiere was at the National Theatre in London in 1983. The play opened on Broadway on in 1984. The production was nominated for four Tony awards and won one.
This play was staged at Havant Arts Centre, East Street Havant - Bench Theatre's home since 1977.
Shelley Levene | Andy Rees |
John Williamson | David Hemsley-Brown |
Dave Moss | John Flanagan |
George Aaronow | Stuart Hartley |
Richard Roma | David Penrose |
James Lingk | Peter Corrigan |
Baylen | John Corelli |
Director | Pete Woodward |
Stage Manager | Aislinn D'Souza |
Lighting Design | Jacquie Penrose |
Lighting Operation | Sally Hartley |
Properties | Andrew Ingle |
Set Design | Jacquie Penrose |
Poster Design | Peter Woodward |
Front of House | Rita de Bunsen |
The character and flavour of the 1980s has been, it seems to me, quite distinctive, allowing and indeed encouraging attitudes that other eras sought to suppress. Personal success,its pursuit and display, became a more desirable target for some; but for others, I'm sure, the responsibility to do well caused a degree of moral confusion.
The men in Glengarry Glen Ross' experience no such confusion. Either by choice or circumstance they immerse themselves totally in a world where the "good thing" is winning.
It is David Mamet's skill in portraying such people that attracted me to this play. Of course, like the poor, they have always been with us, but I find it interesting to consider whether as a species, they peaked in the Eighties and now are, as Richard Roma laments, "... the members of a dying breed."
I'm not so sure.
Pete Woodward