Writer: Richard Bean, after David Mamet’s screenplay
Director: Jonathan Kent
Richard Bean’s return to Hampstead Theatre (following Reykjavik, To Have and To Hold, and Kiss Me) is a competent adaptation of David Mamet’s 1987 noir thriller. House of Games spins cons and tricks with entertaining rigour, but ultimately fails to pack a punch.
Bean’s version stays relatively true to form – Lisa Dillon embodies the upright psychoanalyst and author Dr Margaret Ford, who finds herself in an illicit Chicago poker lounge after attempting to help a client out of a gambling debt. Instead of gambling addicts, she finds a crew at the helm of a web of scams and deception, led by the alluring front man Mike (Richard Harrington). Dr Margaret stays for the research opportunity but finds herself deeper in the con world than she bargained for.
The double crossing – and the subsequent web of triple-crossing – is all clearly laid out, but too clearly. The backstabbing and twists are too easy to call, and predictable early on, rendering the stakes low, the pace off, and the audience distracted. Bean’s deviates from the film’s resolution, but the journey to the new ending feels drawn out, and the final scenes are superfluous and drag the show unnecessarily over the 100-minute mark (without an interval), diminishing the overall effect.
Individual performances are solid, but as an ensemble, the cast falls flat. There’s no chemistry between Dillon and Harrington, meaning Mike is so clearly a conman that Margaret seems at best vapid and naïve, and at worst stupid – a disservice to the potential of this character, and not fair to Dillon’s attempts at characterisation. Individually, the actors jump on the comedy opportunities within Bean’s script, and they often succeed, especially the simple wit of Andrew Whipp’s Bobby. But often the opportunities are missed, and they come slower than they should.
Director Jonathan Kent, another Hampstead Theatre regular (Double Feature, Good People, The Forest), manages to keep the action stripped down across the cleverly designed double-level stage (work of Ashley Martin-Davis), and the engaging pacing of Mamet’s punchy dialogue is sustained. But there’s something static about Kent’s direction that when the group are meant to be out of their ‘con’ character, there’s no marked difference. The group don’t come across as clever or malicious, the victims just come across stupid, which isn’t exciting to watch, nor true to Mamet’s 1987 thriller.
It’s an entertaining piece of theatre overall, but the resounding feeling is ultimately unsatisfying. When Margaret steals her receptionist’s bracelet (an allusion to her newfound love of the thrill of crime), it feels awfully on the nose. It’s got the workings of something quite compelling, but House of Games fails to land a meaningful blow.
Runs until 7 June 2025
