| Speed-the-Plow | |
|---|---|
 Poster for the 1988 Broadway introduction of the play | |
| Written by | David Mamet |
| Directed by | Gregory Mosher |
| Characters |
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| Date premiered | 1988 |
| Place premiered | Royale Theatre, New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
Speed-the-Plow is a 1988 play by David Mamet that is a satirical dissection of the American movie business. As stated in The Producer's Perspective, "this is a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films Wag the Dog (1997) and State and Main (2000)".[1] As quoted in The Producer's Perspective, Jack Kroll of Newsweek described Speed-the-Plow as "another tone poem by our nation's foremost master of the language of moral epilepsy."[1]
The play sets its context with an epigraph (not to be recited in performance) by William Makepeace Thackeray, from his novel Pendennis, contained in a frontispiece: It starts: "Which is the most reasonable, and does his duty best: he who stands aloof from the struggle of life, calmly contemplating it, or he who descends to the ground, and takes his part in the contest?"[2]
- ^ a b Davenport, Kent. "Speed-the-Plow". The Producer's Perspective. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
- ^ Thackeray, William Makepeace (1910) [1848–1850]. "Frontispiece". Pendennis. Volume 2. Everyman's Library No. 426. London; New York: J. M. Dent & Sons; E. P. Dutton & Co. Retrieved January 28, 2019.