When David Mamet’s play, “Speed-the-Plow,” first premiered on Broadway in 1988, Madonna, fresh off her “Who’s that girl?” tour and a year before the release of her hit single, “Express Yourself,” was cast in the play’s sole female role, starring alongside Mamet regular Joe Mantegna and the lesser-known Ron Silver. Having spent her career alternating between roles of sex symbol and feminist spokeswoman, the Material Girl was an appropriate emblem of one of the play’s central questions: What is the moral distinction between making art and making entertainment? But one can guess that it wasn’t just her acting or the symbolism of her pop culture identity that inspired Madonna’s being cast; her brand name must have majorly upped box office sales.

The play’s current Broadway revival was cast with a similar sense of irony and savvy. In an era when a cable television show such as “The Sopranos” regularly provokes comparisons to the work of Shakespeare, and the series “The Wire” is said to embody the principles of Greek tragedy, the line between art and entertainment is more obscure now than ever. With this seemingly in mind, “Speed-the-Plow” director Neil Pepe cast actor Jeremy Piven, of HBO’s “Entourage,” and Elisabeth Moss, of AMC’s “Mad Men,” along with Broadway actor, Raul Esparza, as the show’s stars. Piven’s and Moss’ roles on television closely mirror their roles in the play and the subject matter of “Speed-the-Plow” echoes that of the stars’ TV shows. “Entourage” is a comedy that depicts the Hollywood elite reveling in Dionysian excess, while “Mad Men” deconstructs the gender politics of American society prior to the sexual revolution. Both shows are tremendously entertaining and insightful; they thematically link to Mamet’s work in a myriad of ways.

“Speed-the-Plow” is the story of Hollywood producer Bobby Gould (Piven) facing a dilemma: he can green-light his friend Charlie Fox’s surefire hit prison-buddy movie or he can attempt to find meaning and further the career of his secretary and sudden love interest, Karen, by giving the go-ahead to an adaptation of a literary novel that depicts the apocalypse. The tension of the play rides on Gould’s decision: Will he, at Karen’s urging, make art or will he continue to produce empty, dehumanizing schlock?

Because Bobby Gould’s predicament doesn’t feel quite dire enough (in this production it seems feasible that he could green-light both movies if he really wanted), “Speed-the-Plow” doesn’t inspire the “cleansing awe” that Mamet claims in his treatise on drama, Three Uses of the Knife, is the purpose of theater.

Mamet, in fact, seems to acknowledge that “Speed-the-Plow” falls short of theater’s ultimate aim in a New York Times article from September of this year in which he argues that drama’s sole purpose is to entertain:

“But what about High Art?” Mamet writes. “I, personally, don’t think it is the lookout of drama. I believe that the business of America is business, and the aim of drama is to put tushies in the seats; and that the best way to do that is to write a ripping yarn, with a bunch of sex, some nifty plot twists and a lot of snappy dialogue. If you are looking for such, I suggest “Speed-the-Plow.””

“Speed-the-Plow” may not have a bunch of sex (though there is some, and Esparza’s Charlie Fox does hump Gould’s desk at one point), but there are some fairly nifty plot twists and some of Mamet’s best dialogue ever:

Fox: Life in the movie business is like the, is like the beginning of a new love affair: it’s full of surprises, and you’re constantly getting fucked.
Karen: But why should it all be garbage?
Fox: Why? Why should nickels be bigger than dimes? It just is.

The play comes most alive when Piven and Esparza share the stage; the characters appear to have real affection for each other and their conversation is jovial and funny. In Pepe’s hands, the play’s pressing question is not whether or not Gould will stop making crappy movies; it’s whether or not he will betray his friend for a woman.

Finally, it’s exciting to see Piven show his range as an actor as he portrays a character who is vulnerable, boyish, and confused. “Speed-the-Plow” offers voyeuristic pleasure for fans of “Entourage,” who will enjoy considering how Bobby Gould differs from Piven’s Ari Gold.

The play’s ending, as well as its high-profile casting, seems to endorse Mamet’s idea that the purpose of drama is to put tushies in the seats. Like Madonna’s pop ballads, this production straddles the line between art and entertainment. “Speed-the-Plow” does not incite the sublime heartbreak of Mametian plays such as “Oleanna” or “Glengarry, Glen Ross,” but it does exhibit the master’s wordplay at its most raucously hilarious and that, combined with strong performances by Esparza and Piven, make this show worth seeing. Even if it is the brand names that really put the tushies in the seats.

Eric Rosenblum’s fiction and non-fiction have appeared in Guernica Magazine, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Reader. He currently teaches writing and English at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.