Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Pinter without the bus routes

Plus: another dud from the National, Carol Ann Duffy’s Everyman. Is Rufus Norris the David Moyes of theatre?

American Buffalo performed at Wyndham's Theatre. Damian Lewis as Walter, John Goodman as Don, Tom Sturridge as Bob. ©Alastair Muir 22.04.15 
issue 09 May 2015

David Mamet is Pinter without the Pinteresque indulgences, the absurdities and obscurities, the pauses, the Number 38 bus routes. American Buffalo, from the 1970s, is one of Mamet’s early triumphs. Don is a junkshop owner who believes a customer cheated him over a rare nickel so he gets his young pal Bob to steal it back.

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