| American Buffalo | |
|---|---|
| Written by | David Mamet |
| Characters | Walter "Teach" Cole Donny Dubrow Bobby |
| Date premiered | 1975 |
| Place premiered | Goodman Theatre, Chicago |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | Don's Resale Shop, a junkshop in Chicago, on one Friday |
American Buffalo is a 1975play by American playwrightDavid Mamet that had its premiere in a showcase production at theGoodman Theatre, Chicago. After two additional showcase productions, it opened onBroadway in 1977.[1]
Act I takes place at about 11 a.m. Don, who owns thejunk shop where the entire play takes place, has sold abuffalo nickel to a customer for $90 but now suspects it is worth considerably more. He and his young gofer, Bob (sometimes called Bobby), plan to steal the coin back. Bob has been keeping watch on the customer's house and reports that he has left for the weekend with a suitcase. Teach, a poker buddy of Don's, arrives and learns of the scheme. He persuades Don that Bob is too inexperienced and untrustworthy for the burglary, and proposes himself as Bob's replacement. Teach suggests they steal the whole coin collection and more. Don insists on their poker buddy Fletcher going with Teach. Teach continues to argue that he can do the job without Fletcher.
Act II takes place a little before midnight on the same day. Teach and Don make final preparations for the burglary while waiting for Fletcher, who is late. Teach tells Don that Fletcher is a liar and a cheater at cards, and prepares to go commit the burglary on his own. Don tries to persuade him not to take his gun with him when Bob appears at the store. He attempts to sell Don a buffalo nickel, similar to the one Don had sold the customer. When asked where he got the coin, Bob is evasive. Teach suspects that Bob and Fletcher have organized and completed their own burglary behind Don and Teach's backs. He asks Bob where Fletcher is. Bob tells him that Fletcher was mugged by "some Mexicans" and is in a hospital, but when Don calls the hospital, they have no record of his admission. Bob claims that he must have been mistaken about the name of the hospital, but the suspicious Teach strikes him on the head with a metal object. Another friend calls, corroborating Bob's story and naming the correct hospital. Don calls the hospital and confirms that Fletcher has been admitted with a broken jaw. Bob confesses that he made up the story about the customer leaving with a suitcase, and that he bought the second nickel from a coin dealer in order to make up with Don for his failure to keep tabs on the customer. Don admonishes Teach for wounding Bob and orders him to get his car so they can take him to the hospital.
As is emblematic of Mamet's writing style, the play's dialogue is sometimes terse and often vulgar. Teach says "cunt" numerous times and both Don and Teach say "fuck" even more. Racial slurs are also used. By way of contrast, the younger character Bobby only says "fuck" in situations of extreme duress: immediately after being beaten and his final apology to Donny. Mamet's profanity is not employed for shock value, but is rather an integral component of his characters' "profane poetry", which, according to frequent collaborator Gregory Mosher, "worked theiambic pentameter out of the vernacular of the underclass."[2] The characters' sometimes vulgar lexicon, moreover, may be seen as psychologically necessary armor against their brutal environment.[3]
The parenthetical stage directions are straightforward and do not provide line readings.
American Buffalo opened in Chicago at theGoodman Theatre Stage II on November 23, 1975, directed byGregory Mosher with a cast that featuredWilliam H. Macy (Bobby),Bernard Erhard (Teach), andJ.J. Johnston (Donny).[4][5]
The play premieredOff-Broadway at the Theatre at St. Clement's Church on January 26, 1976 and closed on February 7, 1976. Directed by Gregory Mosher, the cast featuredMike Kellin (Teach), Michael Egan (Donny) andJ. T. Walsh (Bobby).[6]
The play premiered on Broadway at theEthel Barrymore Theatre on February 8, 1977 in previews, officially on February 16, 1977, and closed on June 11, 1977 after 122 performances. Directed byUlu Grosbard, the cast featuredRobert Duvall (Teach),Kenneth McMillan (Donny), andJohn Savage (Bobby). Sets were bySanto Loquasto and lighting byJules Fisher.
The play was produced again Off-Broadway at theCircle in the Square (Downtown) in June 1981, starringAl Pacino as Teach,Thomas G. Waites (Bobby) andClifton James (Donny) and directed byArvin Brown. This production ran at theLong Wharf Theater,New Haven,Connecticut, in 1980.[7]
The play was revived on Broadway at theBooth Theatre, running from October 20, 1983 (previews) to February 4, 1984. Directed by Arvin Brown, the cast starredAl Pacino (Walter Cole, called Teach),James Hayden (Bobby) and J. J. Johnston (Donny Dubrow). The production was nominated for the 1984Tony Award, Revival (Play or Musical), and Pacino was nominated for the 1984Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actor in a Play.[8] During the November 8 performance of this run, Hayden received astanding ovation for his performance; six hours later, he died of aheroin overdose while on the phone with his estranged wife while in hisUpper West Side apartment. He was replaced by his understudy, John Shepard.[9]
The play was presented at theDonmar Warehouse, London, from January 28, 2000 to February 26, starringWilliam H. Macy (Teach),Philip Baker Hall (Donny) andMark Webber (Bobby), directed by Neil Pepe. This production transferred to Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company in March 2000 and closed on May 21, 2000. (Mamet and Macy are co-founders of the Atlantic Theatre Company.)[10][11]
Another production was in April/May 2002 atRoyal Exchange,Manchester, directed byGreg Hersov. It featuredMike McShane as Donny,Ben Keaton as Teach, andPaul Popplewell as Bobby. Ben Keaton won Best Actor and Paul Popplewell was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at theManchester Theatre Awards (M.E.N.) & TV Awards.
The play was revived on Broadway in 2008 and starredCedric the Entertainer,Haley Joel Osment, andJohn Leguizamo, but it closed after eight performances.[12]
The play was produced atWyndham's Theatre in theWest End, London, directed byDaniel Evans and starringJohn Goodman as Donny,Damian Lewis as Teach, andTom Sturridge as Bobby.[13] The show ran from 17 April to 27 June 2015.
Another revival on Broadway, directed by Neil Pepe and starringLaurence Fishburne,Sam Rockwell andDarren Criss at theCircle in the Square Theatre was set to begin previews in March 2020 with an official opening on April 14,[14][15] but the show suspended production due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[16] In October 2021, it was reported that the production would begin previews on March 22, 2022 with an official opening set for April 14.[17][18] In the end, the production with the aforementioned cast & director began a 16-week run on March 22, 2022 with a final performance set for July 10, 2022. Sam Rockwell was nominated for a 2022 Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a play for his performance as Teach.
| Character | Goodman Theatre, Chicago 1975 | Original Broadway Cast 1977 | First Broadway revival 1983 | Donmar Warehouse, London 2000 | Royal Exchange, Manchester 2002 | Second Broadway revival 2008 | Wyndham's Theatre, London 2015 | Third Broadway revival 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teach | Bernard Erhard | Robert Duvall | Al Pacino | William H. Macy | Ben Keaton | John Leguizamo | Damian Lewis | Sam Rockwell |
| Donny | J.J. Johnston | Kenneth McMillan | J.J. Johnston | Philip Baker Hall | Mike McShane | Cedric the Entertainer | John Goodman | Laurence Fishburne |
| Bobby | William H. Macy | John Savage | James Hayden | Mark Webber | Paul Popplewell | Haley Joel Osment | Tom Sturridge | Darren Criss |
CriticFrank Rich, in reviewing the 1983 production forThe New York Times, called it "one of the best American plays of the last decade."[19] Rich had previously reviewed the 1981 Off-Broadway production, calling the play "brilliant", and noting: "The play, though, is the thing. Working with the tiniest imaginable vocabulary – words likenothing,great, andno, as well as those offour letters – Mr. Mamet creates a subterranean world with its own nonliterate comic beat, life-and death struggles,pathos and even affection... InAmerican Buffalo, he has created a deceptively small-scale tragedy that is packed with the power to explode the largest of American myths."[7]
The 1975 production won theObie Award, Best New Play and Performance (Mike Kellin).[20] The production won the 1977New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play.[21]
The 1977 Broadway production was nominated for twoTony Awards: Best Direction of a Play and Best Scenic Design (Santo Loquasto). It received fourDrama Desk Award nominations, including Outstanding New Play (American), and won for Outstanding Set Design.[22]
J. J. Johnston received aTheatre World Award for his portrayal of Donny.
The 1983 revival was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actor in a Play (Pacino).
The 2022 revival was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (Sam Rockwell), Best Direction of a Play (Neil Pepe), Best Scenic Design of a Play (Scott Pask).
The play was also adapted to a1996 film, withDennis Franz (Don),Dustin Hoffman (Teach), andSean Nelson (Bobby).
