David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow is an eviscerating satire on Hollywood cynicism that underscores how little has changed in the film industry since its first staging on Broadway in 1988. Directed by the Belfry’s Michael Shamata, it features Brian Markinson, Vincent Gale, and Celine Stubel in a spare set that evokes American Psycho and its themes of masculine aggression channelled through business competition.
Bobby Gould (Markinson), freshly promoted to head of development at a film production company, is approached by a colleague, Charlie Fox (Gale) with an incredible offer—a big star will leave his studio to make a film with them if they can get the green light by tomorrow. Add a not-too-challenging script, a flavour-of-the-month co-star, and some girl—they’ve got a hit on their hands!
While they’re counting the money they’re about to make (don’t forget the sequels!), Gould’s temp secretary, Karen (Stubel) starts asking the tough questions – is it a good film? Bless her heart. Gould decides to teach her a little about the movie business while taking the opportunity to put the moves on, but ends up moved himself by her impassioned reading of a submission and her appeals to his long-lost idealism.
When Gould explains to Charlie that he’s decided instead to green light a film that will “make a difference,” the ensuing storm that comes down leaves him questioning the motivations of his friend, his new connection with Karen, and whether he really gets to make the decisions or if he’s just a cog in the Hollywood system.
Markinson’s magnetic performance imparts the Hollywood exec’s conflict between ideals and self-preservation, between making the meaningful art piece or the film that makes money. Do even the decision-makers have any real choice, when dwindling box office receipts will have you looking for a new job?
Stubel’s passionate delivery speaks to society’s need and desire for meaningful art, while Gale’s frenetic coaxing of Markinson’s character to not make a decision that will end with him living “in a packing crate” pulls the audience along with the polar shifts of the producer’s moral compass. This is, after all, as Gould says, “business with its own unchanging rules.”
Speed-the-Plow
Until October 11
$23-$48, Belfry Theatre
belfry.bc.ca