What some people won’t do for a nickel! At the heart of David Mamet’s economical and brutal dialogue is desperation: a desire to have “things” to be “somebody;” never mind that you don’t have the means to attain these goals. Mamet’s story, about three losers hatching a scheme to rip-off a rare American Buffalo nickel, still reverberates because it has so much to do with the American dream, and those who are unfortunate enough to be on the down side of that dream. It also reverberates because of Mamet’s profane, forceful dialogue that works as a poetry of the damned, a language for the lost. As one of the three losers says: “You got to trust your instincts, right or wrong … . It’s kickass or kissass, Don, and I’d be lying if I told you any different.” It’s sharp talk, blow hard bluster, and from a character like Walter “Teach” Cole, it’s defining. Because behind this man is nothing but an aimless desire to be something he never can, because he doesn’t have the wits or the strength. The other two characters that comprise Mamet’s exploration of the dark side of greed are equally damaged souls. There’s Bobby, who’s hungry for attention and, pathetically, a desire to be like the elders around him … but thwarted by his need for drugs and lack of intelligence. He’s a young wannabe thug on a fast track to nowhere. And then there’s Donny, owner of a West Side thrift shop, piled to the rafters with junk that no one would ever want, and coming across like a poor man’s yogi, full of worn out wisdom, dispensed with a fatigued heart.
Don’t feel bad if you leave American Buffalo and realize you could never much like any of these guys. That’s not Mamet’s intention. Neither is it his intention to create some sort of half-baked crime thriller where the pettiest of thieves plan out a heist that we, as well as they (deep down) know will never amount of anything. No, American Buffalo is a story about wanting something you can never have. It’s the kind of greed created by American capitalism and Mamet’s riff on this theme has endured now for more than 25 years. The truth that lies just beneath the surface of its trashy, obscene and careworn surface is as true today as when the show premiered.
American Buffalo has been given a loving, detailed revival by American Theater Company. Local legend Mike Nussbaum plays Donny, the pony-tailed guru of grift in an almost perfect turn. Nussbaum directed American Buffalo when it was at ATC last year, and played Teach in the first full-scale production of the play at the St. Nicholas Theater (where he appeared with William H. Macy as Bobby and J.J. Johnston as Donny). His familiarity and love for the play are evident; his performance is understated, assured and powerful. Andrew Micheli, as the young addict Bobby, is also wonderful, a whining puppy of a loser whose habits will soon kill him. And John Sterchi, as the blowhard Teach, is all hopped up menace and energy, sweating bullets and full of bravado that is sadly without substance. These three performances alone are enough to make American Buffalo worth a look.