| 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 |
| IBDB profile | |
American Buffalo is a 1975 play by American playwright David Mamet which had its premiere in a showcase production at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago. After two more showcase productions, it opened on Broadway on February 16, 1977.[1] Critic Frank Rich called it "one of the best American plays of the last decade."[2]
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The play concerns a team of men, Don, Teach, Bob, and Fletcher (who does not appear in the play, but is referred to), who are conspiring to steal a coin collection from a wealthy man. Don, who owns a junk shop, sold a nickel to a man for much less than what it was worth. Out of revenge, he and his young gofer, Bob, plan to steal the man's coin collection after suspecting that he went away for the weekend. Teach, an experienced and misanthropic friend of Don's, persuades Don to release Bob from the job because of what Teach feels is inexperience and potential disloyalty, using himself and Fletcher in Bob's place. Right before the caper is going to be carried out later that night, Bob appears at the store and attempts to sell Don a rare nickel, similar to the one Don sold. When asked where he got the nickel, Bob is evasive. He explains Fletcher's absence by saying he was mugged and is now in a hospital, but when Don calls the hospital, Fletcher has not been admitted. Bob's excuse is that he didn't actually know which hospital Fletcher went to, but by this time Teach is sure that Bob is trying to trick them and in anger strikes him on the head with a metal object from the store. Shortly thereafter a call comes in from another friend of theirs corroborating the Fletcher story and naming the correct hospital, which Don calls and confirms. 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 uses the word "cunt" numerous times and both Don and Teach use the word "fuck" quite loosely. (By way of contrast, Bobby, younger and more vulnerable, only says "fuck" in situations of extreme duress: immediately after being beaten and his final apology to Donnie.) 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 the iambic pentameter out of the vernacular of the underclass."[3] The characters' sometimes vulgar lexicon, moreover, may be seen as psychologically necessary armor against their brutal environment.[4]
The parenthetical stage directions are straightforward and do not provide line readings.
The play won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best play of the 1977 season, and was also nominated for two Tony Awards: Best Direction of a Play and Best Scenic Design (Santo Loquasto). It received four Drama Desk Award nominations, including Outstanding New Play (American).
The 1983 revival was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Reproduction and the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actor in a Play (Pacino).
In 1976 the play won an Obie Award for best new play.[5]
It was revived on Broadway in 2008 and starred Cedric the Entertainer, Haley Joel Osment, and John Leguizamo, but closed after only 8 performances.
The play was also adapted to a 1996 film, with Dennis Franz (Don), Dustin Hoffman (Teach), and Sean Nelson (Bobby) starring.
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