Theatre and plays may not have been introduced to Alex Dimitriades in the best way, but good intentions were there.

He says his earliest theatre memory was at Greek school.

“I found a photo recently of me as a kid, where we were on stage performing a play at Greek school with handheld cord microphones,” he tells Neos Kosmos with a laugh.

“Everyone on stage has their sports uniforms on and my mum had dressed me oreos (very nice), not in a costume.”

It might have been excruciating for Dimitriades, but the thrill of performing on stage still remained with him.

He was always putting on little comedy skits in the living room of his childhood house, fighting boredom with creativity.

He might be known for his roles on film and TV – most recently starring in the ABC production of Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap – but Dimitriades says performing to a live audience is a very different thrill.

About to star in the fast-paced MTC production of David Mamet’s award winning play, Glengarry Glen Ross, Dimitriades is ready to take on the ‘beast’ of theatre.

“The live element is irreplaceable,” he says.

“It’s a momentous energy, the curtain is up and you’re right there, you run the course of it.

“The reward is immediate and you get to do it again.”

Dimitriades is no stranger to plays, starring in Rain Man in 2010 and touring Australia early this year with Vince Colosimo and Nick Giannopoulos in the Wogboys stage tour.

Joining Dimitriades behind the scenes is director Alkinos Tsilimidos, who is putting down his film cap once again, taking on his second play in less than a year.

It’s a medium he really loves to immerse himself in, and finds just how satisfying it is getting an immediate response every night rather than having to wait for distribution.

“[Theatre] is not really a director medium,” he admits to Neos Kosmos.

“It’s really about playwrights and actors.

“I feel like I’m the first audience of the play and I’m massaging it to the point where the playwright intended.”

Tsilimidos has just come off a successful run of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, with the MTC being so happy with the result, they lined him up for Glengarry Glen Ross.

In fact, before both the MTC and Tsilimidos started talking about casting, Dimitriades’ name was in the works.

The play has been dubbed a masterpiece, winning a Pulitzer prize for Mamet, and was made into a film starring Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and Alan Arkin in 1992.

Released in 1983, it caused quite a stir when it hit the stage thanks to its vivid portrayal of shark-like salesmen, doing almost anything to lure unsuspecting investors into buying rubbish real estate.

Framed against the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the global financial crisis, the story is just as poignant as it was 20 years ago.

That reason is why Tsilimidos has decided to keep the script as is, not bow to calls to modernise it.

“We’ve kept it in its time, in its place.

“When you keep it in its original context you can see how important the play is, how it resonates today.”

The play’s themes of greed, deception and ruthless ambition are timeless, and while modern day technology such as email and mobile phones just takes away from the pace of the storyline.

The play’s pace is frenetic, rapid fire dialogue helps the audience understand the characters but doesn’t give them a lot of information about what will happen next.

Set in a ruthlessly ambitious real estate firm in Chicago, upper management is forcing their salesmen into a race to sell the most property.

The first prize is a Cadillac, the second is a box of steak knives, and the third prize is … you’re fired.

The company’s best salesmen is Richard ‘Ricky’ Roma, a cowboy in real estate, reeling people in by seeking out their greatest weakness early on.

It’s a role Alex Dimitriades is itching to play.

“He’s the top salesman in the office, he’s really good at what he does,” he says.

“You see it from the opening scene where he meets a guy at a bar and takes a shot.

“He’s a very advanced salesman who has a pitch that’s kind of anti-salesman, he kind of talks about life and lures this guy in and before you know it, bang, he’s committed this guy to a lifelong deal.”

Getting into character is easy, Dimitriades muses; he believes everyone in life meets a Richard Roma at least once.

“You’re always going to get shafted,” he says.

“We all relate to it because we all deal with money every day.”

The wardrobe helps too. Getting fitted for a big, high-waisted ’80s power suit with expensive cufflinks, Dimitriades is halfway there.

Joined by another six men on stage, there’s no shortage of testosterone, with the audience taken on a high-octane ride from start to finish.

Being very wordy dialogue, there is no need for flashy sets or special effects. Tsilimidos has stripped it down, making sure the audience doesn’t settle into a comfortable lull. The fact that there might not be a lot of things going on with the set doesn’t make things easier for him or the cast.

“It’s a cool play, but geez, it’s a hard one,” he says.

“Looking at it now, examining it, you realise it’s quite a difficult play, it’s a simple play but it’s got so much detail.”
Dimitriades agrees, and despite the nerve-wracking fact he has to remember long soliloquies every night, he’s ready for it.

“It’s quite wordy, rhythmical, it’s exciting.”

Starting previews this week, the two are relatively calm going in. They seem like they’re ready to test their work and see what a modern day audience makes of it.

Being of Greek background, the legacy the Greeks have with the creation of theatre isn’t lost on them.

“It’s the original artform, it’s in our DNA,” Tsilimidos says.

“You really get the sense in theatre that you’re entertainers of the crowd.”

Both want to see theatre lose its feeling of exclusivity, to come back to the classic form it had in Ancient Greece. Free for the masses, open to everyone.

“What Greek doesn’t like theatre?” Tsilimidos asks.

“It’s because it’s community.”

Glengarry Glen Ross opening night is July 10, with previews available this week from July 5. It will run till August 9 at the Melbourne Theatre Company’s Southbank Theatre.

Tickets are from $33 for under 30s, and $60 for general admission and can be booked by calling 03 8688 0800 or visiting mtc.com.au