It’s special when we can get to view a play which was honored with a Tony nomination and garnered a Pulitzer Prize.  Glengarry Glen Ross, now playing at the Mainline Theatre (produced by Acts to Grind Theatre), shows off David Mamet’s ability to write profound dialogue.

This story highlights the cynical, difficult, pushy life of real estate salesmen in Chicago. I was not surprised to learn that the play is also often referred to as “Death of a Fuckin’ Salesman”, because it is notorious for its use of profanity. That hardly resonates in today’s foul language world – on the other hand, today’s politically correct society would flinch at the prejudice shown against East Indians and Polish people.

Mamet’s characters are drawn down and dirty as lying, backstabbing, double-dealing tricksters willing to toss out ethical principles to justify their work. Yet they really are passionate about selling, and especially enjoy the nitty gritty details of closing a deal.  One of Mamet’s goal in writing this play was to highlight the plight of so many people who go about their lives performing regular jobs yet often having to endure indignities while doing so.

Actor Zag Dorison (Shelly Levene) does an amazing job of making you feel his nervousness and despair; we twitch and pull on our lapels right along with him. Dorison, commenting on his character, “This play will always be relevant. There will always be those who exploit others and are out
for a buck at the expense of someone’s savings and dignity. Although the character of Shelly Levene is down on his luck, he believes that
it’s just a streak that will break; he had been a shark and wants to be one again. It is interesting that in spite of this, the audience still
sympathizes with him when his whole world comes crashing down upon him.”

Michael Aronovitch (George Aaronow),  Izak Benrobi (Ricky Roma) and Jake Caceres (Dave Moss) have all been cast well for their parts, and they make their distinctive personalities apparent. Bryan Libero (John Williamson) really makes you dislike him while the company man, Olivier Ross-Parent (Blake/Baylen) is properly detestable.  Davyn Ryall (James Lingk) does well as the meek patsy trying to get his money back.

Be prepared for Mamet’s long soliliquys for each of them – with the other salesmen there mostly as an audience for their rants.  Since this is a small theatre, you too feel as though you are right next to them in the room. Be careful though because as Levene says, these guys are so manipulative, they know how to sell you something you didn’t even want.

Location: MainLine Theatre, 3997 St-Laurent, 2nd floor
Dates: Presented in English: Wed-Sat Nov 7-10, 14, 15, 16, 17, at 8pm. Sun matinees Nov 11, 18, at 2 pm
Tickets: (Prices include taxes and service charge) $22 general admission; $20 Seniors; $18 Students
Tel: 514 849-3378
e-mail: boxoffice@montrealfringe.ca
www.mainlinetheatre.ca/en/spectacles/glengarry-glen-ross
youtu.be/kQOG32GINho
NOTE: mature language. Recommended ages 14+

It is really hard to take the boring authenticity-proving side of the modern art world and make it into a delightful audience loving (2 standing ovations on opening night) theatre piece.

Stephen Sachs, the playwright, took on the true story of Terry Horton, a former truck driver who scavenged a painting for $5 at a second-hand shop as a gift for a friend who needed cheering up. Maude Gutman, as she is called in this play, is a lover of kitsch – her trailer is overwhelmed by it (A congratulatory shout out here for the jam-packed shelves created by set and costume designer Pam Johnson, who really needed my Smart Shopping Montreal book to find all that stuff!). At a yard sale, the local art teacher noticed the painting and mentioned it might be a Jackson Pollock; and so begins the tale. Somehow Gutman managed to get a major art house in NYC to send an expert over to check out her claim.

And therein lies this sparring pied-a-deux. A foul-mouthed bourbon drinking trailer park madam vs. the snooty elitist artsy gentleman. Human authenticity versus art authenticity is set to be proven. Nicola Cavendish walks the walk and talks the talk. Her sneaker grounded stalking moves her around the trailer while her expert verbal comedic timing keeps the pace going. She even manages to give the garbage pail “a line”.

Jonathan Monro (Lionel Percy), himself a renaissance man (competitive swimmer, piano prodigy, singer, director, lyricist, actor), glides around her, expertly dodging her verbal and physical attacks. My take-away forever (as a former NYC art teacher) is the exuberant and sexually suggestive way in which Monro teaches us the how and why a Jackson Pollock painting is important – and not just a bunch of paint splashes on a canvas.

Though Percy always trusts his “first blink”, it is Nicola Cavendish who summed it up brilliantly when she observed Pollock’s paintings, “You can see that what emerges is layers and layers and layers. I think it’s a lesson on how we can learn to look more closely, whether we are talking about a piece of art or whether we’re talking about the woman who lives across the street who’s offensive.” Modern art is beyond the understanding of the ordinary citizen, and this play opens the door a crack as to what it is all about, how it works and doesn’t work. The show makes it all fun and drives Maude’s trailer expertly to the end to find out if she goes from rags to riches.

Location: 453 St-Francois Xavier
corner: Notre-Dame
Tel: 514-288-3161
Dates: Jan 31-Feb 26, 2017
Prices $28- $51
www.centaurtheatre.com
Metro: Place d’Armes

It’s always so much fun when a theatrical experience, be it a movie or a play, takes place in your own home town. The insider information and jokes make you feel like you are part of a private club. The Centaur Theatre’s last play of the season, Triplex Nervosa, is Montreal-Mile-End centric, even including music by Mile-Ender Patrick Watson.

So many of us have nurtured the idea that if we just buy a triplex, it can provide a steady income and eventually even a retirement plan. For artists who have irregular paychecks, this concept is even more inviting.

So the author of this play, Montrealer Marianne Ackerman, herself an artist, took the plunge and gives us a farcical taste of how this good idea could turn into a frustrating experience and possible financial disaster. As they say in the play, “the problem is money and the solution is money.”

The audience giggled from start to finish, which is hard to imagine since the neighbours are all going through serious issues of break-ups, divorce and even death. The story captures many mash-ups of sensibilities, be they ethnic ones, gender-assigned roles, immigrant, political right vs. left, or artist vs business person.

Roy Surette, artistic director of the Centaur, directed this play himself with fabulous stage direction incorporating the inventive Lego-like structure of the stage (pop-up bench, coffee shop and car) designed by James Lavoie (who has worked for Cirque du Soleil).  The play takes place not only on both wings of the stage, the aisles and the front of the seating area, but also on a roof accessed by a typical Montreal outdoor spiral staircase, and through three doors representing the 3 floors of the triplex or and its interior rooms.

Seven actors are cast with a few playing double and very different roles. Favorites were the award- winning Cat Lemieux, with her perfect comical timing, including subtle body movements, who portrays a real estate agent and the perfect caricature of a Montreal police officer. Daniel Brochu shows a diverse range of talent, playing both a Westmount matron (never realized it!) and a noodgy Hasidic Jewish man.

At the end of the night, Ackerman herself said that watching her written play unfold live was like taking a black and white picture and making it full colour. This play is a fun entree into the rainbow of comic, tragic and everyday lives of our own Montrealers.

Location: 453 St-Francois Xavier
corner: Notre-Dame
Tel: 514-288-3161
Dates: til May 17
Prices $27-$49.50
www.centaurtheatre.com
Metro: Place d’Armes

I grew up amongst gypsies. Most of you are now imagining Hollywood wagon trains in Europe with dark bushy-haired, colorfully dressed nomadic people moving from town to town, perhaps even one day shy of the law. You’d be wrong.

(I did know that kind – I lived in Greece, and gypsies roamed the little fishing village there. They even stole my valuable American blue jeans off my clothesline – which wasn’t easy, since my line was on the roof of a three-story building.)

The percentage of you who were right know that “gypsy” is the nickname for chorus dancers in Broadway shows. The nickname started because they, too, move from place to place, or from show to show. My Dad was a stagehand on Broadway, and whenever I visited him at work, the dancers were always around practicing routines, hanging out in the audience or roaming backstage stretching and such.

Back then, dancers didn’t have special dancing clothes. Sure, there were leotards, but after that they looked like – well, gypsies – in their artistic, colorful put-together rehearsal outfits. Nowadays they enjoy the pleasures of cutting edge textiles made just for arduous athletic activity.

These fabrics are lightweight, dry quickly, wick away perspiration and even “control” body temperature – be it hot or cold. The textiles are so thin that you can use them for layering and not feel like a kid going out to play in the snow. The stores below sell these yummy clothes, and also the absolute basic necessity of dancers – proper dancing shoes.

Rossetti, 3923 St. Denis St at Roy St. Phone: (514) 842-7337. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. With the same owner, Mrs. Rossetti, since 1951, this has been a specialty shop catering to the ballet needs of women, men and children. There are Capezio, Bloch, Mondor, Mirella and Body Wrapper tutus, leotards and unitards. Point shoes can be deconstructed and made-to-fit perfectly. Others with itchy dancing feet – flamenco, salsa, tango and tap – can glide right over here for their personalized fitting. If you need made-to-measure theatrical or period shoes, this is your store.

Danz Etc., 920 Jean Talon St. East at St. Hubert St. Phone: (514) 271-6512. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. One of the oldest (41 years) and biggest dance supply houses in town, you can find it all here, whether it’s for ballet, flamenco, ballroom, hip hop, highland, yoga, aerobics or whatever. There’s shoes, bodywear, tights, leotards, point shoes in names you know: Danskin, Mirilla, Capezio, Mondar, Bloch, Sancha, Angelo Luzio, Bodywrappers, Harmony, etc. The staff has background in dance and are good at fitting. If you’re lucky, you might bump into a dancer from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Ballet Jazz or Ecole National de Ballet. Other location: Movimento, 4307 boul. St-Jean (514-696-1212).

Boutique de Danse Wendy, 295A St. Jean Blvd., Plaza Pointe Claire at Autoroute 20. Phone: (514) 695-0285. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday noon to 4 p.m. For West Islanders or anyone else, here’s a convenient location to buy your dance shoes, be it for ballroom, jazz, ballet, tap, gymnastics, Irish or Scottish dancing. Figure skating, ballet and aerobic clothing by So Danca, Danskin, Mondor, Leo’s, Motion Wear and Gilda Marx.