Theater: “American Buffalo” with Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell, and Darren Criss

Before there was Neil LaBute, there was David Mamet. Born in Chicago to middle-class parents in 1947, he attended progressive schools, graduated from Goddard College in Vermont and eventually found work as a busboy at Second City. This led to a career of writing plays and movies that would shake up the world of entertainment—in the 1970s and forever afterwards.

“American Buffalo” was one of Mamet’s early masterpieces. The story of three Chicago losers who plan to rob a rare coin collector, it is perhaps the quintessential example of “Mamet speak:” short, staccato, almost rhythmic dialogue that is definitely “not pretty,” to use his own words. AB was first produced on Broadway in the late 1970s with Robert Duvall in the lead role, and was revived several times over the years, once starring Al Pacino and another time with Cedric the Entertainer.

One wonders if such a play has the same  crackle it had nearly 50 years ago. The latest production of AB at Circle at the Square demonstrates that yes, Mamet’s nasty, muscular, in-your-face style is as nasty, muscular, and in-your-face as ever.

Even the best Mamet plays will flail without the right cast (case in point: the terrible “Speed the Plow” with Madonna back in the 1990s). I’m happy to report that the producers have hit the jackpot with the current cast. Laurence Fishburne as Donnie, the stocky, loud-mouthed owner of a Chicago junk shop, commands the stage, dropping F-bombs and barking his dialogue like a mad dog. Sam Rockwell is no less memorable as Teach, the ignorant overconfident accomplice who can’t even get a telephone number straight. Darren Criss, who continues to impress me as more than a pretty face, is perfect as the pretty-faced punk kid who gets caught up in the crossfire of the bumbling would-be robbers.

Those who know Mamet know that no matter how grim the subject matter, he still has the power to make you laugh out loud. If the riotous reception the play received last night was

any indication, his words haven’t lost this power. Act with dispatch to get tickets because even the best plays have a way, you should pardon the Mamet speak, of always be closing.

.