'American Buffalo' Wyndhams Theatre ****

Roughly, a number of plays, musicals and immersive productions do consist of a whole heap of highly strong language, which could be seen by the audience as slightly unnecessary; then again, there are instances where this is appropriate where costly antique coins are at stake. The West End revival production of David Mamet’s 1975 play, ‘American Buffalo’ was an agreeably written show, along with this, the performances were ideally portrayed.

‘American Buffalo’ is set in Don’s Resale Shop, Chicago where we are accustomed with owner of the junkshop, Don who has just sold a buffalo nickel for a mere $90, though he does deliberate that the nickel could be worth considerably more. He convened by his young, scatter-brained partner in crime, Bob conjure up a plan to thieve the coin back; as such Bob is asked by Don to keep a lookout on the owner’s home, and Bob soon states that he has gone on a small vacation.  Teach, Don’s poker companion makes his appearance and when he is let into this arrangement, he makes it clear that he should be sent to steal the coin rather than Bob as he assumes that Bob is unproven and devious.  Teach also requests that they should steal the entire collection of buffalo nickels.  Over the course of the production, it soon turns to midnight on the same day where Don and Teach are finalising their preparations, however, Fletcher who is supposed to be helping them out has failed to show up and when Bob comes into the shop with a buffalo nickel in which he attempts to sell to Don.  When Don questions Bob of how he came into contact with the coin, Bob becomes equivocal with his answers, intrinsically Don and Teach ruminate that Bob and Fletcher have invented their own strategy to steal the coin for their own gain.  Bob soon states that Fletcher is in hospital with a broken jaw and when Don calls a countless number of hospitals and there is no trance of his name at the admissions desk.  This makes Teach furious and hits Bob with a very hard metal object, furthermore when a hospital confirms Fletcher’s name and with the same injuries, Don is cross with Teach’s actions. At the finale, Don carefully walks Bob to the shop’s door and they head off to hospital in Teach’s car. Mamet’s narrative is congenial as here is a sense of outlandish kinship between the three men, paradoxically the bad language by Teach is redundant and shocking to her i.e. c**t.

One found the performances by the company of, ‘American Buffalo’ were increasingly boundless within their vocals and movements; nevertheless, the camaraderie does appear fraught at times. John Goodman is pleasingly as junkshop proprietor, Don; exclusively where he tries to be the mediator between Bob and Teach through the tense periods, plus his doubtful expressions is attractive to the eye as he works hard to obtain the nickel that he’s desperate in regaining. Damian Lewis is impressive as mouthy, Teach; specifically how he is frequently demanding for Don’s attention away from Bob to himself, which is perhaps the reason why he becomes viscous towards Bob in an unfair and immature manner.  Tom Sturridge is ostentatious as youngster, Bob; particularly the endearing qualities that he does poses as he sees Don as a father figure, which is why he tries to impress him by purchasing a buffalo nickel himself as a means of apology.

Daniel Evan’s direction is amazing here as he has been able to show how both Bob and Teach are desperate for Don’s focus and that there is a democratic voice present as Teach is categorically not one of those and that Bob is vastly childish in his nature, also the characterisations are good here too. Paul Will’s set and costumes are wondrous as here is a gargantuan effort in depicting the changes of people’s styles and class; also the scenic construction is fantastic here through suspending objects that is surrounding the stage.  In addition Mark Henderson’s lighting is exceedingly suitable to a 70’s environment. Overall, the experience of, ‘American Buffalo’ was a nice performance and more enjoyable that the vile revival of, ‘Speed-the-Plow’ last Autumn.