★★★★☆ 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.

^{Lachy Hulme and Damon Herriman in Sydney Theatre Company’s Speed-the-Plow, photo © Lisa Tomasetti}

Lachy Hulme plays a puffing, agitated Charlie Fox in a brown leather jacket, blue jeans and a faded Hawaiian shirt – despite some inconsistencies in his American accent, he wrings plenty of laughs out of the character as a sweaty, sarcastic foil to Herriman’s vapid, execu-speaking suit-and-tie Gould. Mamet’s dialogue is precisely – almost pedantically – choreographed, and the repartee between Hulme and Herriman hums with energy. The sparring is generally spot on as the pair finish each other’s sentences and Gould smoothly panders to his colleague’s heaving lust for the money they’ll make on the new film.

Rose Byrne makes a stunningly nervous entry as temporary secretary Karen, her legs literally shaking. Her discomfort as Bob and Charlie’s sparring shifts gears as a result of her presence – their banter becomes increasingly over the top and overtly sexual – is palpable. But when Gould turns his attentions to Karen – offering her the chance to do a courtesy read of what is considered a laughably unfilmable, artsy book about radiation, as a pretext to invite her to his house – her eyes light up.

The momentum flags slightly toward the end of the first act, but Herriman is fluidly condescending as he puts the moves on Karen and Byrne channels bright-eyed enthusiasm as the pair pull it together to finish the act with a build-up that snaps suddenly to a mood of deliberate awkwardness.

^{Rose Byrne and Damon Herriman in Sydney Theatre Company’s Speed-the-Plow, photo © Lisa Tomasetti}

Both Byrne and Herriman are in top form in the second act, set in Bobbie’s uncluttered Hollywood home. Floor-to-ceiling glass with a globe-like ’80s sex lamp in the corner frame a manically enthused Karen and a narcotised Gould, drinking champagne on the floor. Byrne’s Karen is a sincere and ardent advocate for the radiation novel and the scene becomes one of conversion rather than seduction. The actors spend much of the time on their knees – the soft light and reflective surfaces creating a religious atmosphere – and Karen’s white skirt and blouse evoke ceremonial garments as she proselytises, playing on Gould’s fears and convincing him to make the book instead of the prison film.

^{Rose Byrne and Damon Herriman in Sydney Theatre Company’s Speed-the-Plow, photo © Lisa Tomasetti}

Simmering aggression explodes in the finale, which takes place back in the office. The office chair and Gould are sidelined, however, in a neat reversal that sees the Head of Production in jeans and Fox wearing a new suit – his physical presence intimidating as his frustration at playing second fiddle bursts violently out of his ironic banter.

^{Damon Herriman and Lachy Hulme in Sydney Theatre Company’s Speed-the-Plow, photo © Lisa Tomasetti}

Upton captures the tension and cynicism of Mamet’s play, crafting effective crescendos of tension and anxiety. While the trio create three characterful and convincing arcs that interweave captivatingly, it is Byrne’s performance that is the highlight. Her Karen is more complex than a simple ingénue or ruthless player – Fox’s accusation that she “falls between two stools” proving prophetic, if not quite in the way he means.

Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Speed-the-Plow is at the Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney, until December 17

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