If pressed, I would have to say that a South Carolina accounting firm is not the most promising theatrical terrain. And yet playwright James Rasheed has somehow turned the world's most eye-glazingly dull profession into an entertaining, stiletto-sharp satire of office politics and macho head games. As enacted by an offbeat and very funny cast, it is flat-out terrific.
The play details the power-shifting effects of an accounting scandal on four auditors at a Charleston CPA firm. Leo (Steve French) is an overconfident gay- and race-baiting bully, though we suspect he's driven less by prejudice than by an adolescent delight in unabashed nastiness. The relatively meek Paul (Matthew J. Nichols) says things like "Who gives a darn?" and has a penchant for bow ties. Margaret (Britney Burgess) is the Tab-sipping office bombshell who finds herself promoted to manager. Greg (Wesley Thornton), the least weird of the bunch, is a quiet religious type with unexpected flashes of temper.
Rasheed based the play partially on his own experiences at a similar firm; he also appears to have seen Glengarry Glen Ross a few times. When testosterone-poisoned men in conspicuously capitalist professions go for each other's throats, it's hard not to feel the specter of Mamet hovering nearby, but if Rasheed is not as brutal or poignant as Mamet, he provokes a lot more guffaws. Director Kareem Fahmy encourages his actors' idiosyncrasies, resulting in larger-than-life characters who stop short of caricature. Leo is the play's most toothsome role, and French's absurdly resonant baritone adds an extra bit of drollery to his readings, but the whole ensemble deserves credit for the production's comic chemistry.
The financial shenanigans that drive the plot are the play's McGuffin (something of pressing interest to the characters but completely irrelevant to the audience). Much has been made of the play's "prophetic" anticipation of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, which makes it sound as if white-collar crime is a rarity on the order of Halley's comet. I think Rasheed is more interested in how office intrigue and rumormongering affect individuals — and how the drive to be top dog can leave you chasing your own tail.
Presented by Zootopia Theatre Company
at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, 312 W. 36th St., NYC.
June 28-July 15. Wed.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (No matinee performance Sat., June 30.)
(212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.
