Satire hit the Syracuse Stage this Friday, and it hit it with a vengeance.

 David Mamet’s Tony Award-nominated satire, “Speed-the-Plow,” adapted by Syracuse University’s Drama Department, opened on Friday and runs until March 2. The entire show is portrayed by three SU students: junior musical theater major Alex Thompson, and junior acting majors Tyler Wiseman and Hannah Daly.

 Bobby Gould, portrayed by Thompson, is the newly-promoted head of production of a major Hollywood studio. He and his friend Charlie Fox, played by Wiseman, have been friends for a long time and worked together on many projects.

 The first scene opens in Bobby’s office. The shelves are lined with old movie reels, along with some books and forgotten manuscripts. The furniture on the set is sparse, consisting of one desk, three chairs, a bench and a coffee table in the corner of the room. Bobby is seated at his desk, when Charlie comes in with big news.

 Charlie had talked to a fictional movie star named Doug Brown, who wanted to star in an action movie with their company. Bobby becomes as excited as Charlie about the idea, and even asks Charlie to come on board as co-producer if the idea is picked up by the company’s owner, Richard Ross.

 Richard won’t be able to meet with Charlie and Bobby for another day. While the two reschedule, the temporary secretary Karen, portrayed by Daly, forms a plan of her own. Her shadow was visible to the audience through all the office scenes, and the way she acted alluded to her nefarious intentions.

 The audience seemed to take a while to warm up to the plot. Daly noted that the play was less attended than most of their past plays, alluding that it may be due to time of the play.

 “It was much quieter than usual. Matinee performances are usually attended by our older audiences,” Daly said in an email. “I think the Mamet was a little out of their comfort zones.”

 Bobby and Charlie’s relationship entranced the audience, and caused raucous laughter from the audience as the two called each other “whores” and said they were proud to be known as such.

 “It was slow at first, especially the first scene, but it picked up after that,” said Chris McCurty, a family friend of Wiseman, from Sarah Furnace, Pa.

Karen, on the other hand, presented herself as a naïve, innocent young woman. Bobby asks Karen to read a novel entitled “The Bridge: or, Radiation and the Half-Life of Society,” about fear of the end of the world, which Richard recommended to him.

As the stage rotates, the audience is taken to Bobby’s apartment, where Karen gives her report on the book to Bobby. The set had an ultramodern feel to it, with Rothko paintings hanging on burgundy walls, and a love seat and window bench looking out toward the bustling city.

Karen tried to convince him to pitch the novel in an attempt to move up in the ranks. Bobby was reluctant at first, given the plotline of the novel, but he finally broke down, slowly but surely, after Karen seduces Bobby, leading him to take her into his bedroom in a final act of desperation.                                                                                                    

The audience chuckled at this moment, as it was evident what was going to happen.

The next day, Bobby tells Charlie about his decision to pitch the book rather than the movie. Originally bursting with excitement, Charlie becomes deflated when he finds that his big break in the business may not happen.

As tempers rose between characters, there was a collective gasp from the crowd as the two characters argued before breaking out into a physical fight. The show was well received, and the audience gave a standing ovation to each actor on stage.

Said McCurty: “Overall, I think everybody was great, everybody did a great job.” 

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Published on February 24, 2014 at 12:49 am

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