PREVIEW: Glengarry Glen Ross
The City’s newest production company will make their stage debut this month at the Playhouse Theatre with a performance of Glengarry Glen Ross.
Officially launched at the end of July by Ciaran Keogh and Jamie McConnell, Arctic Soul Productions will make their mark on David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize winning play with a local cast of 8.
We caught up with Jamie to find out how Artic Soul came about. “Myself and Ciaran Keogh were always working with short films but then we decided to push our pas-sion forward by forming a partnership. Therefore we decided to run our own produc-tion company.
“This month Artic Soul is producing our very first stage production, an exciting new version of Glengarry Glen Ross at The Playhouse.”
According to the official production notes, “Glengarry Glen Ross slices to the core of the American dream and exposes the depths people will go to stay on top of the game. Mamet himself worked in a real estate office in Chicago in 1969 setting up appointments for salesmen, and the play is influenced by the cutthroat politics he encountered.”
So why choose Glengarry Glen Ross as the group’s first production? “There was something we really liked about the Glengarry Glen Ross script that David Mamet had written” said Jamie, “it was a great piece of work that was created and we felt that it was a play that we just had to do!”
Starring Karl McCarron as Ricky Roma, Paula Roberts as Stephanie Levene, JD Duddy as John Williamson, Oisin McCallion as Dave Moss, Rebecca Denby as Gi-na Aaronow, Vinny Lynch as Blake, Adam Quigley as James Lingk and Ryan Boyd as Baylen while being directed by Jamie and produced by Ciaran, it will be fascinat-ing to see a local take on this modern classic.
The play is set within an office of cut-throat Chicago sales-workers who are in competition with each other. Real estate is the game and they will do anything to get ahead, legal or otherwise. With the person who clears the most winning a Cadillac, and the two who perform worst being fired, the stakes are high in this dog eat dog environment.
The team have also been working on a feature film titled ‘Envy Eyes’ which is due for release later this year. “The film is about a Serial Killer known as RAZOR who has escaped from a prison in Derry City and Commissioner Kelly, played Paul O’ Doherty, leads the hunt” said Jamie.
“We will have a release date very soon and it will be screened at the nerve centre. We also have a Documentary on Amelia Earhart coming out and many more films and stage-plays ahead!”
Exciting and busy times ahead for Derry’s newest production company, and you can check out the trailer to ‘Envy Eyes’ on Arctic Soul Productions official YouTube channel and also keep up-to-date with all the latest news via their Facebook page.
Artic Soul Productions present: Glengarry Glen Ross at The Playhouse on Friday 25th to Saturday 26th September at 8pm, tickets £5.
