{"id":2735,"date":"2011-11-01T20:44:25","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T00:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/?p=2735"},"modified":"2012-01-23T20:22:40","modified_gmt":"2012-01-24T01:22:40","slug":"the-mets-american-buffalo-worth-an-antique-nickel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/?p=2735","title":{"rendered":"The MET’s American Buffalo: Worth An Antique Nickel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Theater Reviews Page<\/a> | Previous Theater Review<\/a> | Next Theater Review<\/a><\/p>\n

The MET’s American Buffalo: Worth An Antique Nickel<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Jeff Keilholtz as Teach<\/p><\/div>\n

Posted on BroadwayWorld.com November 1, 2011<\/p>\n

About 35 years ago, there arose a new movement on stage and screen that I\u2019ve privately always called American Fauvists, not so much in honor of that early 20th<\/sup>\u00a0Century band of French painters as of what their name portended: a calculated savagery.\u00a0\u00a0The people I call American Fauvists set out to\u00a0portray<\/em>\u00a0savagery as they encountered it in the contemporary scene: characters who were economically marginalized — even if on occasion they appeared to be securely positioned in big corporations, characters who were highly articulate but unlearned, and given in consequence to colorful obscenity and elaborate threats, characters who were not truly civilized, not truly humane, unable to treat their fellows empathetically or honestly, and given to violence.\u00a0\u00a0Auteurs presenting us with these stunted souls included Sam Peckinpah, Quentin Tarrantino,\u00a0Neil LaBute<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0David Mamet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of Mamet\u2019s early efforts in this vein,\u00a0American Buffalo<\/em>\u00a0(1975), is now in revival at Maryland Ensemble Theatre (aka the MET) in Frederick.\u00a0\u00a0Its three characters are so inconsiderable they prove unable to execute a heist; indeed it is revealed by the end that the window of opportunity they had thought existed for them to pull of their \u201cjob\u201d never actually opened \u2013 may have never actually existed, in fact \u2013 and the double-cross that had so alarmed them was only a figment of their imaginations.\u00a0\u00a0In both their schemes and their apprehensions, they have been completely off-base.\u00a0\u00a0The play is thus a sort of\u00a0Waiting for Godot<\/em>\u00a0of heist comedies.<\/p>\n

But in their inconsiderableness, the three characters, Don (Tad Janes), Teach (Jeff Keilholtz), and Bobby (Clayton Myers), generate a rich froth of pungent dialogue (phrases like \u201cin the event something inevitable occurs\u201d), violence, and angst.\u00a0\u00a0The fun of the play is in watching them scheme and fight and insult each other, which, in retrospect is not only what the play is truly about but all that turns out to have happened by the time of the final blackout.\u00a0\u00a0This may seem a peculiar way for an audience to pass a couple of hours, but it is actually quite a rewarding one.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ve gotten to know nothing about stealing coins (the title refers to a rare and valuable nickel), but we\u2019ve certainly gotten to know them, in all their florid shallowness.<\/p>\n

Being so far out of town, the MET may not be familiar to Baltimore theatergoers, but they ought to make its acquaintance.\u00a0\u00a0It is a very professional troupe in an intimate space.\u00a0\u00a0Their performance space is not theater in the round, exactly, like Baltimore\u2019s Spotlighters\u2019 stage, but describable as theater in the semicircle, and about as up-close as the Spotlighters.\u00a0\u00a0That lack of distance can be disconcerting to an audience if the performances are, let us say, of community theater quality.\u00a0\u00a0Where, as here, they are something more, the proximity draws you in, and makes you excited to be part of the action.\u00a0\u00a0If there are no blemishes to see or be embarrassed by, you don\u2019t mind being right there.<\/p>\n

This cast is blemish-free.\u00a0\u00a0As Don, the proprietor of a store selling used antique knickknacks, Tad Janes exudes profane, aggressive authority that seldom wavers.\u00a0\u00a0Clayton Myers\u2019 Bobby, the youngest of the crew, vulnerable partly because of an obvious heroin problem, but also unreliable for the same reason, calls for an unusual blend of innocence and shiftiness, and Myers makes a fine untrustworthy puppydog.\u00a0\u00a0Jeff Keilholtz\u2019s Teach is delivered with consistent believability: all tightly coiled venom, probably psychopathic but just possibly redeemed by the code of personal loyalty he espouses.\u00a0\u00a0He also keeps us off-balance with surprising comical bursts of falsetto.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m leery, as Director Peter Wray is not, judging by his notes in the program, of drawing any moral from this tale of losers passing the time.\u00a0\u00a0Wray quotes someone talking about the \u201cethos of Big Business\u201d and its effects \u201cupon the human soul.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I see little evidence here of the presence or impact of Big Business; these are small-timers, and what makes their souls as small as their business, I think, is America itself, a place where there is no state religion nor any religion or code of ethics at all which anyone is required to internalize.\u00a0Here you are free to be a scheming psychopath while talking a blue streak; no one will stop you.\u00a0\u00a0And while Mamet is clearly pointing out how amusing people who do this can be, I do not see much evidence he thinks we can learn much from them; the encounter is all.\u00a0 Fortunately, it is enough.<\/p>\n

Wray\u2019s apparent shortcomings as a critic, however, do not affect the clear-sighted way he delivers Mamet\u2019s vision, or his comedy.<\/p>\n

Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

Copyright (c) Jack L. B. Gohn except for photograph<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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These are small-timers, and what makes their souls as small as their business, I think, is America itself, a place where there is no state religion nor any religion or code of ethics at all which anyone is required to internalize. Here you are free to be a scheming psychopath while talking a blue streak; no one will stop you. And while Mamet is clearly pointing out how amusing people who do this can be, I do not see much evidence he thinks we can learn much from them; the encounter is all. Fortunately, it is enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-closeup","category-theater-reviews-and-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2735"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2877,"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2735\/revisions\/2877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebigpictureandthecloseup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}