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Poetry in Mamet profanity

Tanya MacNaughtonEastern Reporter

IT may have taken 15 years for actor Damian Walshe-Howling and Black Swan State Theatre Company director Kate Cherry to find the right project to work together on, but the wait has been worth it and the project could not be a better fit.

The star of Blue Heelers and Underbelly has taken on the role of Ricky Roma in the company's season of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross.

Walshe-Howling is no stranger to Mamet's work, having studied in 1999 with Australian actor Rose Byrne at Atlantic Acting School, New York, founded by Mamet and actor William H. Macy.

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"It goes without saying that David Mamet is one of the most brilliant writers to ever grace the stage," he said.

"Glengarry Glen Ross is just one of those shows that feels like it poured out of him and was divinely created.

"People talk about it being really masculine, which yes it is in a sense, but I think it's more about humanity than masculinity.

"It really does touch on the fact that when we're under pressure and trying to survive that we can do some pretty heinous things to each other."

Set in Chicago, the American drama follows four real estate agents and their desperation while working in the cut-throat real estate industry.

An impressive list of actors joins Walshe-Howling on stage including Peter Rowsthorn, Kenneth Ransom, Luke Hewitt, WillO'Mahony and Steve Turner for the production well-known for its profanity.

"He does use the f-bomb so well," the Melbourne actor said.

"It's used something like 138 times in the play, but there's not a time, I think, where it's not needed.

"It's poetry of the profane and it's rhythmic; it rolls off the tongue if you learn it properly."

Walshe-Howling said he liked to think of his character Ricky Roma as a bit of a metaphorical magician, able to create stories out of nowhere.

"It's like he spins these webs to catch people and Im not even sure he realises he's doing it in a way that is manipulative," he said.

"He's very fast and as Kate says, he's almost the jazz player of the group. He's the young hot shot but not without his vulnerabilities as well."

THE ESSENTIALS

What: Glengarry Glen Ross

Where: Heath Ledger Theatre

When: May 23 to June 14

Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au