I've just finished Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.  The second act does not disappoint, with all the tension of the first coming to a head.  This act takes place in the offices of Premier Properties, the real estate company.  The office has just been robbed, as was plotted in the first act, but the perpetrator remains unclear.  Levene enters, bragging about a massive deal he just closed.  While he and Roma discuss this, a detective interviews everyone in the office.  Enter James Lingk, the man who had previously just bought land from Roma.  His wife makes him back out of the deal, but Roma and Levene use underhanded tactics to prevent that.  Eventually, Williamson enters and tells Lingk his check has gone to the bank, and the only choice left to him is to call the state’s attorney’s office. Exit Lingk.  Roma is infuriated.  In the following crucial scene, the office burglar is revealed, and then comes the conclusion of the play.  Mamet is a master of putting interest into the most mundane of scenarios.  His descriptive dialogue keeps the reader glued to the page, while the actual scenario unfolding is not so different than what would occur in everyday life.  Mamet’s greatest strength is his dialogue.  It’s quick and efficient where it needs to be, so as not to lose the reader, yet completely reasonable and believable so as not to distract the reader.  Dialogue, especially in a play, is one of the hardest things to pull off effectively in terms of showing rather than telling, yet Mamet accomplishes it superbly.