A Word About This Review:
I was one of the lucky few to have seen the Alchemist Theatre’s production of Oleanna prior to the cease and desist letter from David Mamet’s lawyers that shut the production down after only one performance.
What follows is the review as it had been original review as it had been written and submitted well over twelve hours prior to the official announcement that the show had been shut down due to Mamet’s evident concern over the casting of two men in the show meant for one man and one woman. Some of what I said may seem kind of strange in retrospect.
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Theaterin Milwaukee this summer heats-up with Alchemist Theatre’s production of the1992 David Mamet drama Oleanna. A college student has difficultyin class. When the student stays after class to try to address a failing gradewith a professor, things get complicated. Soon the professor’s tenure isjeopardized. Things get worse from there.
Myown personal experience with Mamet is kind of strange. My father told me astory of briefly meeting the man while he was with the Goodman Theatre. Thestory sounded interesting so I ended up reading a lot of Mamet in high school.I absolutely fell in love with Edmond. Years later I was watching thefilm version of the play on DVD and listening to Mamet’s running commentarytrack. I was kind of disgusted by Mamet’s original intent with the story—notat all what I’d come to love about it. I still think mine is a much betterinterpretation of the script than the one that the playwright had. So I’mdisappointed in Mamet. And as a result, I’d like to think that he would hatethe Alchemist Theatre’s production of Oleanna. Mamet’s kind of ajerk. This is a production which reframes his original drama in a way that’sfar more interesting than he’s allowing it to be as a playwright.
Thecast is really well-modulated. David Sapiro plays the professor—a guy namedJohn. Ben Parman plays the student—a woman named Carol. So it’s two guysonstage playing a man and a woman. And I like to think that Mamet would hatethat because I think that it improves on his original intent by defusing someof the biggest distractions in the story. This isn’t what Mamet intended. It’sbetter than that. When it was originally released, Oleanna was seen bymany as being a commentary on sexual harassment. The problem I have with thisis that there’s a lot more than just that in the script. It’s making a muchbigger and more compelling statement on the nature of authority in general.With the drama manifesting itself between two guys, the sexual harassment endof the drama becomes a minor detail. This allows the more interesting bits ofthe drama to become the central focus.
Sexualharassment is far too pervasive and far too important an issue for David Mametto handle. He’s a bright guy, he’s just not terribly good at addressing sexualharassment. His treatment of the character of Carol seems a bit misogynistic. She’sweak and she’s uncertain of herself and then she’s cold and vindictive. It’snot a particularly nice portrayal. And while it’s true that there are people ofEVERY conceivable gender who are weak who later become vindictive, having awoman like that in this particular story works against it. Framing that in thecontext of an exploration about the nature of sexual harassment makes theplaywright come across as . . . kind of a jerk. So the sexual harassment end ofthe play is interesting and everything, but it isn’t anywhere near asinteresting as what Mamet is addressing with respect to the nature ofauthority. Casting two men in theopposing roles directs the spotlight to the drama’s strengths.
LestI be misunderstood, I ‘m not saying that sexual harassment and assault can’thappen between men. With two men in the roles, however, the sexuality of thecharacters is downplayed. The casting here is kind of interesting with regardto that. The script isn’t changed from the original. Parman IS still playing awoman. Though there are iconic, little references to that visually, he’s notspecifically playing the role in an exaggerated drag outfit. There’s noexaggerated femininity. It’s very casual costuming. As student, he towers overSapiro in the role of the professor. He’s clearly not the stereotype ofvulnerability that Mamet’s script might seem to be reaching for. Though theredefinitely is a sexual component to the script, it’s nice to see the rest ofthe story become the central focus.
DavidSapiro manages very delicate character work with the professor. There’s a really powerful sense of arrogancepermeating the role. Thanks to Sapiro’s work with the character, we see some ofwhere that arrogance comes from. He’s not some flat stereotype of a pompousintellectual elite. There’s a real danger in him coming across like that in thescript. Sapiro delivers the character’s fascination with the subject matter ofeducation with the kind of intensity that serves as a solid foundation for hisarrogance. It’s a clever performance.
Agood portion of Ben Parman’s job is simply coming across as compassionatelymisunderstanding the basic relationship being outlined in the drama. It’sestablished right away that Carol is actually quite intelligent. She’s in astressful situation and she doesn’t understand things, so she might easily becharacterized as being a bit intellectually challenged. Just as the professormight come across as being flatly arrogant, Carol might come across as beingdim-witted. Thanks to Parman’s careful performance, she’s not. She’s come tothe university to learn and one of those she’s learning from is questioning thevalue of a university education. She’s upset. Things get ugly. Thanks to thework of Parman and Sapiro under the direction of Erin Nicole Eggers, it’s afascinating kind of ugly. TheAlchemist Theatre’s production of Oleanna runs through July 12 atthe Alchemist on 2569 S. KinnickinnicAve. For ticket reservations and other information, visit the Alchemistonline.
