Yes, MaNamet
At STAGEStheatreNs production of Glengarry Glen Ross, weNll find out if a group of actresses can close the leads theyNre given
By now, the myth of women as the “fairer sex” has been pretty much debunked. Anyone who looks inside a womenNs restroom at a busy bar at the end of the night will instantly recognize that the ladies possess their fair share of snips and snails and puppy-dog tails.
Generally speaking, though, itNs a safe bet that, left to their own devices in the same environment and confronted with similar goals, a group of women are going to be a bit more civil than a group of men. Women may traffic in coarseness, vulgarity and even violence when need be, but it doesnNt seem as common a currency among them as it is for men.
In short, while women may wallow in the mud, theyNre not born pigs like men. Which is why dropping a group of women into the testosterone-steeped world of David MametNs Glengarry Glenn Ross is so intriguing.
Director Gary Krinke, not content with just staging a traditional all-male cast of MametNs intricately composed play of verbal chaos, opted for two casts for the playNs run at STAGEStheatre: one all-male, the other with women in the four main roles.
Cross-gender casting isnNt that unusual, but casting women in a play such as Glengarry Glenn Ross definitely breaks type. MametNs script doesnNt just specifically call for men; itNs fueled by traits commonly associated with the Y chromosome: competition, dominance, aggression. While no punches are thrown, its use of words as weapons makes for a brutally violent play.
Though set in a Chicago real-estate office, the world of Glengarry Glenn Ross is a jungle. And, like all jungles, thereNs one prevailing sentiment: Only the strong survive. A very masculine sentiment, and understanding masculinity—along with its Achilles heel, misogyny—is as important in analyzing MametNs plays as knowing guilt is to any exegesis of the Ancient Greeks.
As Karen C. Blansfield writes in Gender and Genre: Essays on David Mamet, the guy is “AmericaNs foremost macho playwright. . . . By and large, women in MametNs plays have been peripheral at best and absent at worst.”
And Glengarry Glen Ross may be MametNs most masculine play. In another essay, Dorothy Jacobs writes that, in one sense, itNs nothing less than a “dramatization of how necessary the marginalization of women is to the maintenance of patriarchal ideologies.
“[The word] fuck is a constant, and the usual insults are contemptuous of any sexual position perceived as inferior. Having balls is superior, whereas someone sold or unable to sell is a “cocksucker,” a “cunt” or a “secretary.” . . . Yet the demeaning language is but a crude indicator of the prevailing homosocial attitudes. Fear begets the frequent denigration and persistent distancing of the female.”
Whether Mamet hates women or just doesnNt write them as well as men is debatable; what isnNt is that in Glengarry Glenn Ross, any weakness or softness shown by men is attacked by others as effeminate. So putting women in those roles as women, rather than women portraying men, offers a far different perspective than a typically male cast, one that enhances, rather than dilutes, MametNs script, says Krinke.
Though they swear like sailors and are immersed in cutthroat competition, “their intentions are feminine,” he said. “ItNs not like dykes on bikes or something. . . . The language in this play gets downright gross, and I think the women are approaching it from a more intellectual level. ItNs not always as scathing or intimidating when they say it as when the men do. TheyNre looking for different takes. Like saying ‘fuck youN with a smile. But whatNs startling to me is that it still hurts as much, but thereNs a feminine wile behind it. And that makes it just as deadly.”
Nicole Wessel, one of four actresses in the dual-gender cast, agrees that women performing in Glengarry Glenn Ross may be playing against traditional type, but that forces her and her fellow cast members to dig even deeper in connecting with their characters.
“Mamet has created a very male-dominant world in this play, and that has been a challenge to navigate because we are working against the text as originally imagined,” Wessel says. “However, the beauty of it is finding so much more to explore than would ever come up with men. The dynamics of the female/female and male/female relationships change nearly every tactic and motivation in this script. . . . I donNt think the audience should ‘forgetN we are women, but they hopefully wonNt be thinking too much about it while watching.”
Glengarry Glen Ross at STAGEStheatre, 400 E. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, (714) 525-4484; www.stagesoc.org. Opens Fri. Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 6 N 8:30 p.m.; Sun., 6 p.m. Through June 27. Visit the website to find out which cast is performing at what time. $15-$18.
Joel Beers has written about theater and other stuff for this infernal rag since its very first issue in, when was that again???