Wonderful to see Matthew who plays Roma! He was my acting teacher back in the days in San Fran. After moving on from the Shelton Actors Lab Studio, and relocating to Asia. I was fortunate to be casted as Lingk in the Hong Kong production of GGR in early 2000. This fast pace dialogue and intense play from David Mamet, about the real estate industry, is no easy task. Our production company had three months of rehearsal, which besides working at our day full-time jobs, we had to rehearse every night and weekends to perfect and develop each of the characters. We also had some upward battles within the production company to overcome, but at the end we were on stage performing for 10 nights with an additional encore performance. The last night encore performance changed my career, and I have been fortunate with more work ahead. I owe my career to Shelton Actors Lab Studio and all the dedicated instructors who taught me the craft! Thank you!
Thanks for uploading this. A few observations: 1) The acting is good for what it is: a local theatre production of a play that was made into a well-known movie with literally some of the best actors of our generation. The actors in this play have two strikes against them already because we're all mentally comparing them to Pacino, Lemmon, Harris, Spacey and Arkin. 2) The guy playing Roma was particularly good. He captured the character's arrogance perfectly. 3) The restaurant set was fine, but the office set was not. It didn't remotely look like an office where four people work. At a minimum, it needed one or two actual desks. Similarly with the placement of the whiteboard: it was placed where WE could read it, but the characters could not. The physical size of the set might have had something to do with all of this, obviously. 4) The photography of this performance is top-notch. Kudos to the camerapeople and editors. 5) We have a local theatre here in Scottsdale called Desert Stages. Bottom line is that if my wife and I went to Desert Stages, paid money and saw this level of performance, we'd go home happy.
Fair observations. And thanks. I’m the film instructor at the acting school and I aim to make good cinematic live theatre. Regardless of the successes and failures that happen on stage my hope is to achieve a cinematic document of that live experience. Check out my filmed version Street Car on my channel. I think that’s one of the best ones so far.
One observation to Joel's comment... PLAYS ARE SUBJECTIVE! IT IS ART! YOU CANNOT COMPARE APPLES TO ORANGES (and vice versa). This production was great! Any fan of the original script (not movie's) would enjoy this interpretation. Indeed, the actors NAILEd their lines nearly verbatim! No-one in hollywood could master such a script.
That actor absolutely KILLED. If i was a casting director in hollywood id cast this guy in projects immediately, he was amazing. All the actors were solid but Roma was next level
Thanks man. I'm a filmmaker who teaches at an acting school, so I like to shoot and edit their plays properly. It seems most people don't do that for theatre. They usually just stick a camera in the back of the room and treat it like a document rather than live cinema. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I absolutely love live theater! This was a very respectable, entertaining, and genuine performance. These actors embraced the script and performed as if the writer was in the audience. Whoever did the casting, chose very well. I definitely would have paid good money to see this in my town’s dinner theater. Thank you for uploading this great performance for free. Ever since Covid, I miss going to the theater. Then again, I was treated to a well-rehearsed, professional play from the comfort of my own media room! Thanks
Jack Lemmon called this play "Death of a F'ing Salesman". The writing is so good one completely takes for granted the dialogue is entirely constructed and not natural. I've been in sales and while I've never acted my little bro got his masters in drama from Julliard in NYC so maybe I got a little of his talent. If a community production ever does this play I'm going to audition for a part.
I just saw this on the West End on London and this was a much better version. I could not fault Christian Slater as Ricky but the direction in this version was amazing, captivating, praise to everybody.
Dear critics, Posting your thoughts on a RU-vid video does not make you a professional in any capacity. Please sit down. Secondly, I'm wondering if any of you have ever seen a play on stage? It's a completely different format than a film. Now, I will agree, some of these actors (or at least their performances) weren't terrific, some were downright cringe-worthy, but others were quite good. I think the guy playing Moss is actually really great...and would make a good film actor; but on stage he's fidgety and looks upstage a lot. That doesn't make him bad, necessarily, it just means he needs to work on these ticks when he's acting on-stage. If you're comparing this to the film, think about this, when you see a film you're seeing hand-picked, close-up shots, from powerful angles, using framing and composition to make the actor's performance even more amazing. I've worked on film sets with major Hollywood actors, and while watching some of them film scenes, I actually found myself thinking I wasn't that impressed with them...then you watch the finished edit of the film and it's AMAZING!!! The editor can make or break a film, and likewise, they can make an actor look great or lackluster. In theatre, you don't have that luxury...the audience sees everything. Also, typically, when you see a play the actors aren't wearing mics...this means the actors must project their voices to an unnatural level. The subtle nuances that we use as actors become exaggerated in order for the audience to hear them. Again, that's not an issue with film, because you've got a boom mic hanging over the scene, capturing even the slightest sounds the actors make. That's not to say film is better than theatre, it's just different. You can't expect to watch a play (at least when it's not on a big-budget, professional level) and expect the performance to feel like that of a movie. Have a nice day.
100% agree. Theatre and film acting is a completely different ballgame. Thanks for the comment, it gets a bit tiring seeing so many people comparing it to the movie
Well educated analysis Tim. I was acting a few years back in Australia and when involved in theatre the play would be generally filmed for the actors personal copy. You'd watch it once, cringe a little at the volume and put it away and possibly never look at it again. I'd always beg the director n o t to download a play because it would never translate as well on film. See it "live" for it's spontaneity and hopefully that connection with the audience or don't see it at all! That was my dogma though I must admit with social media these days I have watched some filmed theatre and it's been impressive but you can never better theatre live.
I never liked the ending where Roma tells Williamson that he will take half of Levene's sales. It didn't really make sense how that would work and I am glad it was cut from the film.
I agree, I think it's an unnecessary cynicism in a text already so full of it. Roma really admiring Levene is a lot more powerful cause it's the only truth in the whole play.
As a student of Drama I am so happy that this resource was available. Overall a very good production, but Williamson, man--we can all see it--bad performance. Really took me out of the scene. :(
All the world loves a hater..Bro if 99 people like it and you dont. Ya thinks I give two fucks about you. Sorey ass aint never did a Mamet play. Hater stay home. You probably dont tip the bartenders either. So double stay home.
Why do commentors assume the duty and right of becoming a critic? Instead of describing the experience you had you judge the objective show as if you weren't a 'patron' but critical authority. I don't have a problem with it, I just don't understand the default position.
I suspect any actor doing this play will inevitably be compared against Lemmon, Pacino, Spacey, Harris and Arkin. Not only because those performances are the platinum standard for GG/GR, but also because they probably have to try hard not to do an imitation of those actors in their own delivery.
I can't be the only one who thinks the performances are really bad. Roma is pretty good, Shelley is pretty good, but they can't work off of the bad actors around them. Especially Williamson. Maybe I'm out of line, but they feel very wooden, and they put very strange emphasis on every word.
These guys are awful- of course who’s as good as Lemon , Pacino, Spacey etc. All star cast. But that being said , these guys ain’t gonna win any awards....
Gotta say the overall acting was not up to standard. It lacked. No transition in emotions from scene to scene. I appreciate whoever posted this though. It’s always interesting to see this played out
44:46 "iaintgoinouttodayimgoinhometodaycuznothingseveryaccomplishedhereinthefirSSSTTPLAAAYCCCEEE!!" Might be the most poorly delivered line ever delivered on stage
The reason Lemmon, Pacino, Spacey, Arkin, and Harris are noted as great actors is clear. These guys did a good job but when you can compare one human doing their job as an actor to another, it becomes clear why such people as Al Pacino, Alan Arkin and Jack Lemmon have been around for decades.
Garbage. Another case of the actors watching the film and trying to spew lines in the same fashion. If you weren't familiar with the movie this performance would make zero sense. Garbage
Yes I'm sure that a well-funded Hollywood production is "better" than an indie theatre peace shot on two cameras. How are you not a critic with such acumen?
Don't be so snide. These actors are crap, simple as that. The 1992 cinema adaptation was excellent, and there have been superbly acted theatre productions. This is a load of poorly done trash, suck it up
