IF, AS THE SAYING GOES, there is no such thing as bad publicity, then there is nothing like a little controversy to stir up interest in the forthcoming production of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross.
Even before the curtain goes up on March 5, the drama behind the scenes is mounting. For starters, the show is headlined by Anya Wu, the actress who was convicted of drug use after a raid on a Taipei bar last year, and who is currently recovering from a traffic accident that left her with 40 stitches on her face and upper body.
Then there's the backstage bickering. Just last week, a South China Morning Post reporter received a call 'encouraging' her to drop a story on Wu's understudy Michael Clements because he was apparently exploiting the opportunity for self-promotion and his 'views' didn't accurately represent that of the cast.
I telephone co-executive producers and co-stars Duc Luu and Ricardo Mamood to set up an interview. Both suggest I speak to them at the same time to get 'an equal view'. All this leaves me wondering if the show's poster tag line, 'mislead, conspire, commit a crime, all in one shift', describes the actual play.
In an empty office on Connaught Road, Central, Mamood and Luu pull up two chairs side by side and, courteously taking turns to speak, try to set the record straight. 'We don't pull rank,' Mamood says. 'But from the start, Clements has been an understudy and we don't think he should speak on behalf of the show and be on equal terms as Anya, who's the lead. The role of an understudy is just to fill in for one or two nights, and then he goes.'
As it turns out, Wu's filming commitments during March allow her to appear only for the first five nights out of the 10-night run, from March 5 to 9, giving Clements an equal number of appearances.
