American Buffalo is a funny play. It doesn't overflow with jokes, but develops sustained humour from the rhythm of the dialogue, a rolling punch line that builds for an hour and a half. It's hard to nail down. Imagine someone who doesn't understand English listening to Lenny Bruce on a riff. They can't get the jokes, yet for some reason they fall over laughing. Delivery, pace, inflection, style carry the humour. And when the comedy dissolves into violence there's no safe emotional ground to retreat to.
             The play centres on three small-time crooks. How small? The object of their loopy schemes is a lowly nickel. A rare and valuable nickel -- maybe -- but still just a nickel. These guys are nickel-and-dimers, minus the dimes. But when you're far enough down penny-ante stakes are desperate stuff.
             Don (played by Alec Willows) runs a junk shop. Teach (Stephen Dimopoulos) is his thuggish friend, and Bobby (Benjamin Ratner) is a hype who runs errands for Don. Don and Teach are hyper-verbal lowlifes, if a bit dimwitted. Teach particularly is one of those people who has difficulty thinking unless he's talking, and an even harder time talking unless he's moving. Dimopoulos and Willows can rarely be caught acting; they inhabit these characters, live in their skins. Mamet's obscene poetry sparks in their mouths like firecrackers. Ratner's slo-mo junkie rhythms are a perfect counterpoint, the syncopating element that keeps the play's dynamics from going stale.
             American Buffalo operates on pure high-octane testosterone. Machismo is an insufficient word to describe it. We need a new noun: mametismo. Mamet builds his play out of male stereotypes: cards, banter, sexual bragging, rituals of business and violence. He goes far beyond easy mockery to unlock deeper levels of meaning and emotion that have made these things such enduring cliches.
             Women only exist off-stage in this play, as in much of Mamet's work. Don't expect equal opportunit...