The Best Mamet

David Mamet, born in Chicago in 1947, is a peculiar case in our country. His scripts are not published, but almost all his plays have been performed in our theaters with good productions and top-tier actors. He is an author that everyone likes. Actors enjoy his sharp, biting, almost testosterone-driven dialogues. The media loves the controversy he stirs wherever he goes (over the years, he has become a Trump supporter). And the audience, because they have a great time. A buddy of Al Pacino, with whom he has premiered quite a bit on Broadway, his mastery of dialogue is legendary. He disregards any postmodern theatrical theory, any textual analysis, any dramatic workshop, any nonsense, in short. He presents characters who want something very specific, generally quite trivial, but they complicate it to unforeseen limits through pure interaction with others. His conflicts are like small snowballs that end up causing an avalanche. His characters, on the other hand, erode the greatest patience. Thus, his theater arrives like the decisive moment of Cartier-Bresson. With method, yes. With talent, also. But above all, with instinct. And that is something you either have or you don't.

With introductions made, this Friday I enjoyed one of his best-known plays, 'American Buffalo,' at the Soho Caixabank Theater. It is a production by Ignasi Vidal, based on a very good translation by Borja Ortiz de Gondra, which I also enjoyed last year in Madrid, at the Fernando Fernán Gómez Theater. Then, it seemed to me one of the best of the season. I remain of that opinion, not only because there is a maximum respect for the author and his original conception, but because Vidal has managed to maintain, in the verbal whirlwind that unfolds, a perfect 'tempo'.

Vidal has managed to maintain, in the verbal whirlwind that unfolds, a perfect 'tempo'

Originally premiered in 1975 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, it is a classic that has not lost an iota of relevance. Don, the owner of a second-hand store (the ideal metaphor for capitalism) plans with Bob, his young employee, and Teach, a scoundrel with answers for everything, a seemingly simple heist. This 'macguffin' allows Mamet to have his characters struggle to impose their truth, of course in the service of their interests. Everything can be challenged, everything can be doubted even from the utmost ignorance. It anticipates by decades the current problem we have with the manipulation of 'fake news' and in passing, skillfully throws numerous darts at the 'American way.'

Because the great genius is to place, at the central axis of the story, a coin. It's the 'business', the characters repeat continuously. The heads and tails, the balance between what you have and what you spend, unhealthily permeates everything from a breakfast to a poker game. It looms even when money buys money. A system of values that, among them, collapses time and again. "You tire me out, Walt." Don says to Walt, a phrase that could be prophetic for everyone someday.

David Lorente, at least, ends up exhausted after each performance, or so it seemed to me the two times I have enjoyed his performance. His portrayal of Don I believe will become a benchmark for future productions of this play. The hunched back, dragging feet, the hand tic in the crotch, the doubt on the face, the psychological collapse. It is a devastating performance, worth seeing again and again. Israel Elejalde counters or bores, depending on how you look at it, with a wonderful Walt, enjoyable from start to finish. He knows how to tame him, measure him, knows how to take him to a field where he isn't ridiculous, but can show his fragility in small doses. What they do is very meritorious because the 'Mamet speak', that jargon in frenzied and dirty dialogues, is not easy to naturalize in another language, and they achieve it perfectly. Yesterday, Miguel Nollet completed the cast, who was not at the premiere of this production in Madrid. It seemed to me that he was somewhat lacking the experience that Lorente and Elejalde already have, but he improved as the performance went on.

In conclusion, the best Mamet that can be seen these days, in a version that, surely, will continue to be talked about in the future.