David Mamet’s play A Life in the Theatre is a well-observed study of mannerisms and quirks some actors develop over years of working on stage. This production is funny, but unfortunately slightly unremarkable. At Upstairs at the Gatehouse.
David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre is a quirky little play. A well-observed study of mannerisms and ticks some actors develop over years of working on stage, it is a sweet little gem, especially for people working in the industry. This production is funny, but unfortunately slightly unremarkable.
The set-up is simple. We meet two male actors backstage in a theatre: an experienced thespian and his young, promising colleague. While the first epitomises all of the cliches about actors’ idiosyncrasies, the latter is a more down-to-earth sort of man for whom acting is a profession like any other and who approaches it with the according nonchalance. A massive table dominates the stage, and is used to good effect in the play-within-a-play sequences. A plane, a flask, a globe and other seemingly random objects are suspended from the ceiling on strings, and allude to the fact that, in a theatre, the players are not simply on their own, but are always surrounded by all of the stories they are telling and that have been told there before.
John Fleming plays Robert, an experienced and somewhat conceited know-it-all with a strong propensity for pretentiousness as a constantly sweating, insecure wreck. To compensate, grand gestures and big speeches come easily to him, and he seems to be in constant state of reminiscence. He seeks to educate his colleague, the struggling young actor, and sees his own fading youth in him. Unfortunately, there is not enough charm in Robert to rehabilitate the demanding and annoying personality of the character completely. So when, after a couple of more anecdotal scenes, the stakes do eventually rise for the stage veteran, it didn’t evoke any real pity.
Duncan Wilkins gives the character of John a genuinely lovable quality, and we feel for him when his colleague dares to give him a somewhat vague directing note or indulges in overly-dramatic monologues about actors’ souls or the human condition in general. Wilkins’ performance is captivating and he is incredibly good at acting as if he was acting badly.
There are enjoyable Abbott & Castello-like exchanges that had the audience in stitches. In some respects it reminded me of Noises Off, which played successfully at the Novello earlier this year, but it has the emotional depth Michael Frayn’s piece lacked by nature of its genre.
But although some of its humour is farcical, in rare occasions even slapstick, A Life in the Theatre is not a farce. All of the funny bits are handled very well by the two actors but, on top of that, Mamet’s play is full of honest rumination about what drives people to work in theatre and how it usually turns out to be so much more than just a job. Becoming someone else every day on stage will change an artist’s personality, and the playwright has a good eye for subtle details. But it is not just another piece of meta-theatre, these are real characters with real struggles.
It’s a shame then that what sets the play apart, its insights into the artists’ emotional roller-coasters, fall slightly flat. There is something very touching about the play, something that rings true, and it’s not just the hysterical cries of “I think I’ve missed my cue!” which are not far off from what sometimes really happens backstage. Robert makes some valid points in his speeches, but they are almost always met with a playful or hidden sneer by the young actor. Although it’s an easy thing to do, I think that turning Robert’s struggles and his existential angst into the constant laughing-stock is playing it a bit safe.
Hiraeth Productions and Ovation have worked together to put this on at the Camden Fringe and, with the solid direction concept and good performances, it shouldn’t be too hard to take this production further. One merely would have wished for a more audacious approach to the characters and an end that’s more of a bang rather than a fizzle.