CurtainUp
CurtainUp

The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
www.curtainup.com


HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH

REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us


Globe Valves,China valve, valve Manufacturer, valve supplier, link check valves, ball valves, Butterfly Valves,valves Butterfly valves 2011.06.05, Gate valves, Ball Valves,Gate Valves,Check Valves Plug Valvesglobe valves, butterfly valves, Zhejiang sedelon valve co.,ltd.
valve factory,valve corporation,valve company China Valve manufacturer and Supplier
A CurtainUp London London Review
Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien


You got it made. — Joe to Dale
Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien
Nigel Cooke and Steven Webb (Photo: Alastair Muir)
This revival of two of David Mamet's early short plays makes an intriguing if not entirely convincing evening in the theatre. Although in the past Prairie du Chien has been paired with another Mamet supernatural drama The Shawl (which the Arcola staged successfully in 2009), here it serves as a nice complement to Lakeboat, with both all-male plays centred on storytelling during long night journeys.

The one-hour Lakeboat, the slightly more substantial of the two, was Mamet's first play in 1970, but he revised it ten years later. Probably influenced by Eugene O'Neill's Glencairn plays, it's a semi-autobiographical account of a young college student doing a summer job as a steward on a cargo boat on the Great Lakes, where he learns about the professional and private lives of the older, experienced crew. He also hears differing versions of what may have happened to his unfortunate predecessor, allegedly 'rolled over' when drunk by 'the Outfit' or the 'G-Men'.

There is no narrative as such in this episodic piece, made up mainly of fragmented conversations between two people, giving glimpses into this macho environment of manual work, rivalry, camaraderie, braggadocio and confidences. As usual, Mamet examines the vulnerability underlying the combative male psyche with thrusting wit, though the work seems a bit underwritten and does not fully develop as the rite of passage it promises to be.

Director Abbey Wright ensures a good head of steam is maintained from one brief scene to the next, though there is not enough sense of motion in this voyage, while designer Helen Goddard's rusty-coloured girders suggest the bowels of a ship but with insufficient claustrophobia. The cast make a decent effort at capturing the heightened naturalism of the 'Mamet speak' dialogue, without always getting the accent or rhythm quite right. Steven Webb does well as the naìve novice all at sea, while the paternal Nigel Cooke suggests the melancholy of unfulfilled potential and Rory Keenan reveals the true cost of boasted drinking and sexual exploits.

Steamboat is exchanged for steam train in Prairie du Chien, a radio play which Mamet later reworked for the stage. Its origins can be seen in its form of dramatic monologue, with a Storyteller outlining a tall tale of jealousy, murder, suicide and ghostly goings on to an almost silent Listener as they travel west in the early part of the last century. Meanwhile, at a table next to them, a couple of men drink and smoke while playing gin rummy with increasing tension.

Like a more restrained Poe short story, Mamet skilfully builds up the suspenseful atmosphere, again touching on his tropes of confidence trickery and male competitiveness, with the related macabre yarn nicely juxtaposed with here-and-now violent drama. An eerie mood is strongly created in Wright's still but tense staging and Goddard's period setting, with a scratchy record rotating and a railroad guard whistling low. Cooke enthrals us as the quietly mysterious narrator, while the card-playing Keenan is a powder keg waiting to explode.

Minor Mamet these plays may be, but it's well worth catching this double bill as a rare chance to see the development of one of American theatre's most distinctive voices.

Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe, E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country.
Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien
Written by David Mamet
Directed by Abbey Wright

Starring: Nigel Cooke, Ed Hughes, Chris Jarman, Rory Keenan, Mark Lewis, Roy Sampson, Steven Webb, Nigel Whitmey, William Jeffs
Design: Helen Goddard
Lighting: Emma Chapman
Sound: Chris Barlow
Running time: One hour and 50 minutes with one interval
Box Office: 020 7503 1646
Booking to 7th May 2011
Reviewed by Neil Dowden based on 15th April 2011 performance at Studio 2, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL (Train: Dalston Junction)
REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien
  • I disagree with the review of Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien
  • The review made me eager to see Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V):

Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email . . . also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review.

London Theatre Walks


Peter Ackroyd's  History of London: The Biography



London Sketchbook



tales from shakespeare
Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co.
Click image to buy.
Our Review


©Copyright 2011, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com