From Nashville Scene 11/19/2003:

Backstage Life
Tennessee Rep stages surprisingly reflective Mamet play
By MARTIN BRADY

Those who equate David Mamet with his staccato, expletive-laced tough-talk realism will be surprised to learn that A Life in the Theatre, currently at TPAC as part of Tennessee Repertory Theatre's Off-Broadway Series, is a different sort of work. In a way, this very early Mamet play, written in his mid-20s, seems like the kind of work a playwright might engage with in his later career: a reflective meditation on the backstage life of the actor. Which is not to say that the play isn't filled with crackling good dialogue. It is, and it's also characterized by humor, poignancy, a healthy respect for the theater art and a sense of affection for thespians, whose overblown egos collide with rampant insecurity in plying their singular trade.

This new Rep production, under the direction of Dan Carter, fulfills the playwright's goals sufficiently. Most importantly, it lifts the drama beyond the danger zone of its in-joke setup and effectively allows us to see the humanity of its two lead characters.

A superb opening scene finds older actor Robert (Cecil Jones) and younger actor John (Matt Chiorini) removing their makeup in the post-performance dressing room. The dynamic is one of mentor/protege, and their interplay is fraught with funny, recognizable banter, the duo veiledly fishing for compliments, seeking approval, dishing the female cast members and reliving their onstage scenes. The play then goes on to offer some 20 different vignettes in which we see Robert and John both on- and offstage, gaining insight not only into the stage actor's uniquely fulfilling (and anxiety-ridden) regimen but also witnessing these two men's changing relationship.

The play-within-the-play installments are brief yet revealing and have a humor all their own. Robert and John are seen in various tableaux--as World War I doughboys, island castaways, etc.--and we gleefully observe them at work and identify with their challenges, especially at that nightmarish moment when an actor believes he has missed his cue. Yet at the heart of the play are the "reality" sequences in which we move in and out of the dressing room, watching the actors adhering to a certain amount of social graces and, most critically, perceiving the subtle transformation in their relationship, as the neophyte John begins to challenge his elder in the actor's craft.

Jones has been one of Nashville's most dependable actors for decades, and he brings his obvious dignity, experience and grace to bear on his portrayal. Through all of his character's veteran bravado, self-assured proclamations and ego-charged defensiveness, we see a dear but very lonely older figure. Chiorini once again displays his natural presence and obvious technical skills in a smooth depiction of the earnest, fawning newcomer who gains strength through fire-tested performance and then comes to start projecting his own testy, self-protective actor's armor.

Director Carter moves the players efficiently from Julia Meador's nicely appointed dressing-room set into downstage playing areas for the "theatrical" scenes, and it all plays out with consistent pulse in 90 minutes with no intermission. And while it may all sound pretty simple--two actors, a single set and not much technical fireworks--the magic is in Mamet's wonderful dialogue, which is keenly literate, wholly vibrant and totally authentic.