And that's our life. That's it. Where is the moment?

David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, for all the hype that I feel surrounds it and him, was truly a let-down. The most that I could find to appreciate was how the piece felt so much more modern than prior plays we have read. Like Top Girls and True West, something in the dialogue and the settings gives the impression that the piece was written for television. While Ibsen, such as in Hedda Gabler, might have appreciated the pauses that characterized the speech patterns of the early twentieth century, Mamet manages to capture the overlapping nature of contemporary conversation, a concept that Churchill seemed to recognize and yet negatively associate solely with women.

However, the plot (if you can find it) left much to be desired. Essentially, four salesmen hate the company that they work for and are either trying to outsell one another or plot the downfall of the company. While such loathing of one’s employers is an easily relatable topic, I am afraid it cannot constitute an entire storyline, and if it can, Mamet does a terrible job of trying. The play does not seem to be isolationist theatre, however it is impossible to feel anything towards any of the characters. Moss and Roma are simultaneously obnoxious and oily; Levene is desperate; Lingk and Aronow are naïve and pitiful; Williamson and Baylen are (for lack of a better term) assholes. A majority of the dialogue, specifically when Moss or Roma speak, is repetitive or, worse, altogether pointless. The first act was conveniently to the point in setting up the characters, albeit Scene 3 was ridiculously difficult to read, but the second act, which was almost twice as long, was truly boring. In all honesty, I have no idea how it all ends, except that Roma is still self-deluded and intolerable. Overall, I prefer to think Mamet must have better work than this to have earned the reputation that precedes him.