David Mamet is an extremely prolific playwright, but few of his works are better than his 1975 classic, “American Buffalo,” currently at the Studio Theatre. The play established early on in his career Mamet’s unfailing ability to create patterns of speech that instantly identify his characters — not just where they come from but how they see themselves and the world.
If you go
“American Buffalo”
Where: The Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 8 p.m. May 25, June 1, 8; through June 13
Info: $35 to $63; 202-332-3300; studiotheatre.org
In “American Buffalo” those characters are three small-time crooks, Donny (Edward Gero), Bobby (Jimmy Davis) and Teach (Peter Allas). The oldest of the three, Donny, sells everything from bicycle tires to ancient Mixmasters to old croquet mallets in his Chicago junk shop. Russell Metheny’s set crams a hodgepodge of worn utensils and useless knickknacks into the small store, which is dominated by a poker table and an assortment of broken chairs. The shop is the visible representation of Donny’s, Bobby’s and Teach’s inner lives, where everything is a crazy jumble of wild ideas and unhinged notions. Each man tries to make sense of the incomprehensible world around him: Donny tries to impose order on his universe by helping Bobby; Bobby tries to help Donny by buying a rare coin for him; Teach relies on verbal and physical violence to subdue the uncontrollable world around him.
“American Buffalo” involves a crime, the heist of a valuable coin collection, which the three plan but never carry out. But in Mamet’s world the fact that the crime never happens — proof of the inability of this trio to pull anything off — is more important than the plan itself. It is the men’s attitudes to each other that is Mamet’s real concern.
Gero is exemplary as Donny, providing a solid father figure and mentor for Bobby. Although he is willing to steal to get what he feels is due him, Gero’s Donny has a core of humility and honesty. Davis is solid as Bobby, a scruffy, sullen, lost young man, vulnerable and looking for a way to be useful in life.
Allas is excellent as the garrulous, vain Teach, convinced of his own intelligence and interested only in his own gain. Teach arrogantly believes in his intellectual authority — he uses words like “demean” and “efface” — but he cannot really communicate. Allas draws Teach nicely, accompanying every word with florid hand gestures, using his body to demonstrate what his own limited grammar cannot convey.
“American Buffalo” is propelled by rapid speech as it rockets from moment to moment and thought to thought. Director Joy Zinoman gives this production the raw energy it needs, making the staccato, gritty explosions of her characters sincere and credible. Dialect Coach Elizabeth van den Berg deserves credit for making that speech understandable.
Michael Giannitti’s lighting design not only transports Don’s Resale Shop from day to night. Along with Gil Thompson’s sound design, it also creates a convincing impression of the noisy elevated train clattering close to the shop.
One of the most remarkable features of “American Buffalo” is its ability to suggest a desire for brotherhood hovering right beneath the surface aggression, coarseness and steeliness of these characters. Ultimately it’s a play about three emotionally isolated men who are uneasy with their armor but unsure how to shed it. Zinoman does a beautiful job of illuminating that insecurity and desire for companionship, without once dipping into sentimentality.
