Glengarry Glen Ross is a loss

Discovering that the office had been robbed.

Brittany Owens / Reporter

The Tarleton State University theatre department opened the second production of the fall semester with “Glengarry Glen Ross,” a piece written by David Mamet. The auditorium reached half of its capacity, which was suspicious for the opening night of a production.

The performance, which runs about one and a half hours, is filled to the brim with foul language. The official program even has a note from the director, Mark B. Holtorf, that reads, “The language used in this play is not intended to supply ‘shock value,’ but to represent accurately the attitudes and feelings expressed by the characters in the play.” If the theatre department feels that there must be some sort of disclaimer in the programs, then one can only imagine what the opening scene would entail.

As the curtain rises, we are introduced to two characters, both salesmen, eating lunch in a Chinese restaurant. Within the first fifteen minutes of the opening act, the “f-bomb” was dropped more times than I could count. This more than set the tone for the rest of the performance. The multitude of foul language was more than an audience member should be asked to take in.

During the first act, there were three mini-acts of sort. The lights would drop and the audience could not only still see, but hear, the sets being changed. Each time the lights came back on the audience members were shown new characters. There was no introduction of the new faces, and no connection between these characters. It was not until their discourse was nearly complete that the audience began to connect the dots that all these men, in fact, worked at the same real estate company, and were just oblivious that their fellow co-workers, were dining in the same restaurant. 

Then there was the issue of the plot. There were several times during the first act that I had to ask myself, “what in the world is going on?” The discourse between the characters was more than confusing and it left the audience questioning not only the characters, but the motives behind their actions. It was never explained to the audience members, either directly or indirectly, what the piece would entail. There were no clues, no hints, and zero foreshadowing as to what to expect next.

After the intermission, I was hoping for the action to rise and for all of the pieces to fall into place, but I was left disappointed. The second act opened in the Mitch and Murray Real Estate office.  Then is when all of the characters began to truly interact with one another. After 30 minutes of cursing, flailing insults and eyebrow-raising comments, the play abruptly ended. There was no true climax, no resolution and definitely no answers for the audience. 

Overall, I rate this performance of nine students with two out of five stars. The set and costuming might have been the only saving grace for this production.