★★★★☆ Tension, anxiety and cracking dialogue drive Andrew Upton’s production of Mamet’s Hollywood satire.

Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney
November 12, 2016

David Mamet’s cynical ’80s Hollywood satire Speed-the-Plow is a powerhouse of cracking dialogue. The tight three-hander focuses on newly promoted Head of Production Bobby Gould, his friend, colleague and now underling Charlie Fox – who brings him a highly bankable actor’s prison film to greenlight – and his new temporary secretary Karen, who may or may not have her own agenda. It is the rising waves of tension between these three characters – and moods that shift on a dime – that drive Andrew Upton’s new production for Sydney Theatre Company.

The play opens in Gould’s office, the Head of Production slickly played by Damon Herriman. David Fleisher’s set is simple and effective: the walls are half painted, a ladder stands behind Gould’s chair and a roller leans against the wall. A phone sits on a pile of unpacked boxes, next to a bunch of flowers and strewn paint tins, and a cabinet on the wall is wrapped in plastic. Fleisher tastefully evokes the period without ramming the 1980s down the audience’s throat.