Two major revivals of plays by American writer David Mamet will hit the West End early next year. His 1975 play American Buffalo opens at the Donmar Warehouse in February, starring Hollywood film actor William H. Macy, and his 1988 play Speed-the-Plow arrives at the New Ambassadors in March 2000.
In American Buffalo, considered by many to be Mamet's best play, a junkshop owner and his two small-time crook sidekicks decide to rob a customer who they think owns a coin collection which includes a rare American buffalo nickel. However, as they plot and plan, the threesome stir up their own rivalries.
William H. Macy co-founded, with Mamet, New York's Atlantic Theatre Company, which is co-producing this revival of American Buffalo. Although Macy has a long list of theatre credits, including the starring role in the New York production of Mamet's Oleanna, he is best known for his quirky character parts in films such as Fargo (for which he earned an Oscar nomination), Pleasantville, A Civil Action, Boogie Nights and Wag the Dog as well as Mamet films The Spanish Prisoner and Homicide.
American Buffalo is directed by Atlantic's artistic director Neil Pepe. It opens at the Donmar on Feb. 3, 2000, following previews from Jan. 28, and continues until Feb. 26 before transferring to the Atlantic in New York in March.
Speed-the-Plow will receive its first major London revival since its British premiere at the National in 1989 when it opens at the New Ambassadors in March 2000. The three-hander, which starred Madonna in the original New York production, lifts the tinselled veil of Hollywood. It focuses on a producer called Bobby and his decision, brought about by his seduction by a temporary secretary, to film a novel about a nuclear catastrophe and the end of the world rather than the star-laden, sure-fire hit brought to him by his friend Charlie. Exact dates and casting details have yet to be announced. For further information, contact the Donmar box office on 011-44-171 369-1732 or the New Ambassadors box office on 011-44-171-836 6111.
-- By Terri Paddock
What's On Stage, London
