STAGE REVIEW : An Immature ‘Plow’

“Speed-the-Plow” should be like a jolt of hot coffee.

Unfortunately the San Diego premiere of David Mamet’s latest play has not finished percolating at the Bowery Theatre.

The production shows promise, but among the three performers, only Paul Nolan seemed in top form on opening night Thursday. Unfortunately, all three are crucial to pulling off Mamet’s complicated triangle of emotional entanglements.

The play is a feast for thought, and it may well be Mamet’s most moving indictment to date of the great American dichotomy between love/art and hard cash.

Mamet’s poison-dipped valentine to Hollywood sets up a charged situation between two men and a woman. Except the traditional love triangle has taken a weird twist. The men aren’t fighting over the woman. Everyone is after “the deal”--to produce a movie production that will put their names above the title on the marquees and will, in turn, translate into big money if the movie is a hit.

But it is also a little lonely at the top, and Bob Goulds, one of these characters who call themselves whores, finds himself, despite his better judgment, susceptible to appeals of love and art.

Will true love interfere with Bob’s ability to turn a trick for the head of the studio? Can a naive little secretary convince Bob to junk a sure-fire shoot-em-up vehicle in favor of an adaptation of an artistic novel about the end of the world?

Nolan does an impeccable job as the ambitious but not-yet-successful producer Charlie Fox, a man who has absolutely no illusions about what he is doing or why he is doing it. He’s a tightly wound coil, so wired that, when he laughs, it’s like giving off electrical sparks.

He delivers a sure-fire movie package to Bob, knowing that Bob is the only one who can sell it to the head of the studio for him. This is Charlie’s long-awaited ticket. Bob (Ralph Elias) agrees to sell the movie in exchange for half the credit, at least until Karen (Laura Rearwin) walks into his life, and seemingly sees a better side of him, putting still other ideas into his head.

Elias, the Bowery’s artistic director, seems to understand that Bob, despite his know-how, has to reveal patches of vulnerability. But the choice to play him low-key, to the point of depression, saps the play of needed energy. The film industry should be played as a roller coaster.

Rearwin’s part, too, is complicated. Karen is a mystery, but at the end of the play, more of the mystery should be elucidated. It is as if the actress has failed to make a choice about who her character is and, instead, attempts to cover all the bases. Clarity would be better.

Director Frank Dwyer seems to understand the play, but fails to show us the adrenaline rush of the business--except when Nolan walks on stage.

The set, also by Elias, does not help matters. Pale and sprawling, it diffuses focus and energy rather than concentrating and intensifying the action.

J.A. Roth’s lighting design works acceptably and Lawrence Czoka’s sound design is suitably energetic, if a bit scattered.

Dione Lebhar’s costume design is better for Karen than it is for the men; still, she does not quite capture the funky fashion statements favored in the fast world of L.A. film.

The Bowery is a first class little theater company, and this show leaves us with the impression that, given more time, more of the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle may cohere.

“Speed-the-Plow” was not pulled together on opening night. The show deserves more time to mature.

“SPEED-THE-PLOW”

By David Mamet. Director is Frank Dwyer. Set by Ralph Elias. Lighting by J.A. Roth. Costumes by Dione Lebhar. Sound by Lawrence Czoka. Stage manager is Dale A. Maxwell. With Ralph Elias, Paul L. Nolan and Laura Rearwin. At 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays with Sunday matinees at 2 through Dec. 9. Tickets are $14-16. At 1057 1st Ave., San Diego, 232-4088.