Theatrical take on the ruthless business world

The Leamington company’s all-male production of David Manet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, which starts on Wednesday, may be set in the USA and in the 1960s, but audiences can expect to find strong resonances of the concerns of today.

The plot centres around a group of Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to do whatever it takes to sell undesirable land to unwitting prospective buyers.

With only a few days of a sales contest remaining, all four salesmen are desperate to establish their positions on ‘the board’ or sales graph.

The top man will win a Cadillac, the second a set of steak knives - and the bottom two men will be fired.

The men must battle it out to finish in the top two, fighting tooth and nail to hang on to their jobs, using any number of unethical and illegal acts - from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation and even burglary.

The play, which Manet dubbed a ‘gang comedy’ and was a watershed in his career, is partly based on the playwright’s own experiences of life in a Chicago real estate office, where he worked briefly in the late 1960s.

It is no coincidence that Glengarry premiered in 1983 at the National Theatre in London to huge critical acclaim, rather than at his usual preferred venue, the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where it opened in the following year before hitting the Broadway stage.

Director Tim Willis said: “While we have laughed loud and long throughout rehearsals, we have always been aware that this play is a remarkable attack on the ruthless winner-takes-all business values and culture which are once again coming to the fore in the economic global climate we currently find ourselves in.

“It stands alongside Wall Street as an unflinching take on a mindset that informed a generation of salesmen and stockbrokers in the 1980s and 1990s and persists to this day. It is truly a play for our times.”

Performances will take place at the theatre in Victoria Colonnade from Wednesday until Saturday April 2 at 7.45pm. For tickets, call 0844 493 4938 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, visit the theatre box office on Monday March 21 and Tuesday March 22 7pm to 8pm and on performance evenings, or go online www.loft-theatre.co.uk