NEWS photo Cindy Goodman LENGARRY Glen ‘Ross, the drama that opened last Friday at Presentation House, won playwright David Mamet a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. By Ben D’Andrea Contributing Writer It’s the story of four real estate salesmen engaged in a cutthroat com- petition to hold on to their jobs. The first prize of a Cadillac goes to the top salesman. The runner-up gets a set of steak-knives. The last two get sacked. Often corrosively funny, Glengarry Glen Ros is Mamet’s most unrelent- ing attack on the so-called American Dream, a riveting journey across the battleground of greed and hypocrisy. In the world of Glengarry, salesmen are thieves and selling real estate amounts to cold-blooded swindling. The current Presentation House Productions’ Glengarry perfectly cap- tures the sense of an amoral world of wheeler-dealezs. Director Martin Millerchip’s approach emphasizes pacing throughout the play, not just the verbal pyrotechnics of isolated NEWS photo Paul McGrath Speeches and dialogues. As a result, ¢ play carefully builds to its devas- tating conclusion: an act of betrayal that sinks to the very bottom of manipulative self-interest. In the opening scene, set in a Chinese restaurant, Shelly Levene, admirably played with a mix of ner- vous energy and hostility by Arthur Corber, appeals to his new office manager, Williamson, to give him better sales leads. Corber’s Levene, like a petulant and unpredictable child, is all roo capable of striking back. He’s had a streak of bad luck, but his desperation fails to move Williamson, performed with an appropriate cruel detachment by Mike Busswood. The rest of the cast succeeds as well as Corber in portraying their characters. Although too young to play Richard Roma, Simon Farrar is con- vincing as the smooth-rongued shys- ter. He delivers Roma’s monologue, a prelude to the inevitable sales pitch, with double-dealing charm, manag- ing to seduce both the timid Lingk — Roma’s most obvious victim in the play —— and the audience. In the second act, Farrar reveals Roma’s true vicious nature, as he moves swiftly in for the kill after the downfall of his colleague and sup- posed friend. Forbes Angus as Moss wastes no time in gaining momentum in his role, playing it with a comic edge and an impeccable sense of timing. His victim, the hapless and troubled George Aaronow, played by Evan Llewellyn, is the only one of the salesmen who tries to make some sense out of the chaos. Llewellyn avoids turning Aaronow into a simple whiner as he reveals his character’s pangs of conscience as too weak and contused to be effective. At the end of the play, he settles into a chair with a helpless and resigned, “Oh, God I hate this job.” Millerchip and his cast had a little less contro! in the second act, which occasionally threatened to wind down in the wrong places, like the difficult three-way conversation between Levene, Roma and Lingk. The second act takes place in the teal estate office, the morning after the coveted sales feads have been stolen. Ann Booth’s sparse second act set, four black office chairs placed around a desk, suggest what the .an- NORTH Vancouver potter Heather Cairns (left) and painter Jacquie Morgan exhibit their works at North Van District Hall, 335 W. Queens, through Feb. 27. Artists’ reception: Feb. 20, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 19, 1997 — North Shore News -- 17 sacked office has in fact become: an interrogation room. Bur Booth’s most ingenious invention for Act Two is the enor- mous contest board that covers the back wall and dominates the entire stage. It’s clearly meant to underscore the play’s themes: Roma, the top salesman, is at the very top of the board, Moss on the line below. cir sales figures appear in large ted numbers, the only bright color in an otherwise drab set. The contest board, decorated with the Stars and Suipes, is dominated by an enormous eagle's head. It’s not just the sales- men under investigation; it’s the entire Yankee business ethic. Mamet provides no answers to the difficult questions he raises. But in this production of Glengarry Glen Rass, those questions are provocative- ly staged. My hope is that Presentation House Productions dares to produce such compelling drama again. Glengarry Glen Ross runs nightly through Saturday, March 1 at Presentation House, 333 Chesterfield, North Vancouver. Tickets available at doar or by calling 990-3474. The play begins at 8 p.m. SEVEN ANGRY p MEN — Presentation House offers up David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross nightly through March 1. The play's cast inctudes (left to right) Simon Farrar, Mike Busswood, Eric Clark, Evan Llewellyn, Arthur Corber, Forbes Angus and Gordon Rudolph. CURRENTLY the longest-running English language play, Agatha Chnoitie’s The Mousetrap continues to draw a crowd wherever it plays 44 years after opening at The Ambassador’s Theatre, London, on Nov. 25, 1952. It’s a smart choice, audience- pleasing-wise, for the inaugural pro- duction in Capilano College’s com- fortable new theatre, with approxi- mately 500 guests enjoying the show over its first ovo nights. But the play presents a challenge to a youn Canadian cast in ternis of inhabiting the variety of English stereotypes that Dame Christie dishes up in lieu of characterization. Mostly, the young cast does a credible job with this over-the-top guest list to Monkswell Manor and if the accents are varied the physical commitment to character is uniformly good. The Mousetrap is fun if you don’t expect drama and I’m looking for- ward to seeing what Capilano Callege’s burgeoning theatre depart- ment will achieve in their handsome new home on campus. The Mousetrap rans to Feb. 22. Tickets: 331-9979. — Martin Millerchip Claythings Pottery and watercolors by Jacgitie Morgan. Presented by the North Vancouver Community Arts Council. Ferry Building Gallery: A History of the Ferry Building Gallery, 1912-1997 opens Feb. 18, reception 6-8 p.m. Lectures by historian and municipal archivist: Rupert Harrison Feb. 18, 11) a.m. and Feb. 21,7 p.ns. Reg new for fabric-art lectures and tours. Info: 925-7290. North Vancouver City Hall Gallery: North Vancouver Commumity Arts Council vy L'Hirondelle. t the Judy Deniis Emerging Artist award in 19S5. To 21. Gallery hours: Mon.-Fri., 8:30-4:30. North Vancouver District Hall: Heather Cairns of To Feb. 27. Closing recep- tion Feb, 20. 6:30-8:30. Hours: Men. to Fri., 8:30 a.m. ~ 4:30 p.m. North Vancouver Muscum and Archives: Bottoms Up! A Walk in Burrard Inlet, to March 9, What Goes On Below The Surface?, vo March 9. Lower Lonsdale: A Community in Transition, to March 9. Flies. Historic photographs look at the roll flumes played in the trans- portation of shingle botts ro the mills of Burrard Inlet. To April 1. Info: 987-5618. Seymour Art Gallery: Fred Amess and Friends to March See more page 18