Glengarry Glen Ross

It was certainly "different" to see one of the actors on stage in an MTC performance with the script in his hand.    This occurred at MTC's Glengarry Glen Ross when we saw it on the Saturday after it had opened on the Thursday - and last minute substitute John McTernan was still easing into the part of Shelly.   At least the show went on, and in all the circumstances, he gave a pretty creditable performance.    It must take a lot of courage to take a part in a play just before it opens and to get up to speed with a cast who have been rehearsing together since the outset.

The play itself, by David Mamet, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and is about the cut-throat, fast-talking, obscenity-ridden and deceptive world of Chicago real estate salesmen.

As with The Speechmaker, MTC had again dispensed with an interval, so it was all over in  90 minutes.  I'm beginning to wonder if intervals are so "yesterday"?

There's the "old school" sales guy in the "new era", and it's all unrelenting.  There are some insights, too, such as, " You don't sell one car to a guy, you sell him 5 cars over fifteen years".    Some salesmen get it, some don't, but it's tough and competitive, with no room for even a moment's humour.   MTC have done it as well as can be expected in the circumstances, and it can only improve as John McTernan gets more performances under his belt.

Update:   I see that it has now been reviewed.