TAG delivers in
brutal ‘Glengarry’

By John Berger
Special to the Star-Bulletin

THE terms are simple: The winner gets a Cadillac. Second best gets steak knives. The rest get fired. Such is life among the sales weasels at a branch office of a real estate company. Among the properties they're peddling are developments with the innocuous names Glengarry and Glen Ross.

The rogue's gallery includes:

Shelly "The Machine" Levine (Sam Polson): Once a sales dynamo but now reduced to begging for prime sales leads from young office manager Jane Williamson (Dorothy Stamp).

Richard Roma (Steve Cedillos): Top weasel/salesman. A philosopher. No scruples whatsoever.

Dave Moss (Eric Nemoto): A distant second to Roma. Cynical. Crude. A master of prevarication.

George Aaronow (Brian D. Fowler): Young. Basically hates his job. No match for Roma and Moss and they all know it.

ON STAGE Glengarry Glen Ross: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays through Nov. 20; The Yellow Brick Studio, 625 Keawe St. Tickets $10. Call: 533-3406

David Mamet tells their story in stark and brutal style in "Glengarry Glen Ross." The Actors Group (TAG) and director Brad Powell present it in all its tawdry profane glory at the Yellow Brick Studio.

Act I finds Moss trying to blackmail Aaronow into stealing the prime leads out of Williamson's office for him so he can sell them to a rival company. Act II opens with the office burglarized and a police investigation in progress.

Polson does a fine job with the most complex role. Levine's fortunes change dramatically. Polson convincingly negotiates every twist and squirm.

Cedillos and Nemoto provide the deceptive contrast between Roma and Moss that Mamet certainly intended. Their work too is well worth the price of admission.

Stamp plays "nasty" quite well as Williamson sinks her claws into Levine. Gary Kau (James Lingk) adds the right note of quiet desperation as one of Roma's clients.

This is not a show for people who are squeamish about gutter-speak but overall this production is TAG's most impressive show to date. Mamet demands good acting and direction, and Powell and the cast deliver on both counts.

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