Oleanna: A Play
by David Mamet
published
May 4th 1993
by Vintage
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binding
Paperback, 96 pages
isbn
067974536X
(isbn13: 9780679745365)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 606)
Read in February, 2008
This is the first Mamet play I have read (sacrilege, I know) and I was pleasantly surprised. My only prior experience was a production of Sexual Perversity in Chicago which I found to be dated (reasonable) and stilted (unacceptable). I also find it annoying that actors, in general find his writing to be so brilliant. Plus the scenes I have seen people do never sound natural: too many cryptic pauses and unfinished thoughts, not enough contractions, and Mamet's penchant for saying "do you ...more
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Read in January, 1993
I will say about Oleanna that when I saw Mamet's production of the play, I thought it was one of the most offensive depictions of feminism, so-called political correctness and campus life I'd ever seen. Then I was asked to be the dramaturg on the Yale Rep's production of the play, and discovered it's a much richer, balanced view of the kind of misunderstanding and conflict that could take place in any institution than Mamet himself may have even intended.
As Mamet so often does so well, thes...more
As Mamet so often does so well, thes...more
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5 comments
Granted, I'm not a big Mamet fan, but this play reminded both why I'm not, and why people other people like him.
When they call him the master of dialogue, what they really mean is the master of writing out stuttering, which is effin' easy, it just reads like shit. I take the Robert McKee position that dialogue isn't speech, it's dialogue. It's supposed to be bigger, better, more grandiouse. Mamet dissagrees.
Also, he has this hyperfocus on the big bad man whose world is being destroyed by...more
When they call him the master of dialogue, what they really mean is the master of writing out stuttering, which is effin' easy, it just reads like shit. I take the Robert McKee position that dialogue isn't speech, it's dialogue. It's supposed to be bigger, better, more grandiouse. Mamet dissagrees.
Also, he has this hyperfocus on the big bad man whose world is being destroyed by...more
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recommends it for:
Melanie, Carrie
I just saw the film adaptation of Oleanna last night for the first time. Fucking amazing. It should be required viewing for anyone considering a career in academia. A scathing critique of intellectual hypocrisy. It gave me the chills.
I don't ever want to end up like William H. Macy's character. While it deals ostensibly with sexual harrasment, Oleanna also highlights the absurd circularity inherent in an institution that criticizes itself and then laughs at how ironic and amusing this se...more
I don't ever want to end up like William H. Macy's character. While it deals ostensibly with sexual harrasment, Oleanna also highlights the absurd circularity inherent in an institution that criticizes itself and then laughs at how ironic and amusing this se...more
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the dynamic between the two characters in this play is fascinating and changed the way i thought about things. i was in high school when i read it, and still saw people and actions as either "good" or "bad," but in this play you couldn't like either character and yet had sympathy for both. the whole play is really tense and made me feel tense while reading it, but was very engrossing and fascinating to think about.
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Read in January, 1999
A teacher recommended this to me: did he think i was a grade-grubber? Regardless, I immediately loved it because I've always been drawn to the subtle manipulations and invisible strings of power struggles, how the hopeful seeker or mercy becomes the threat, how the confident power broker loses all control and voice, forcing us to question who deserves what in the end. Bravo.
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Unforutunately my rating is not entirely unbiased. I am not a huge Mamet fan. I find his women generally ill-written and his tone arrogant and subversively masogenistic.
The big claim to fame that Oleanna has is a story driven by subtle dialogue which is truly clever. I find the denouement unsatisfactory and incomplete, however.
The big claim to fame that Oleanna has is a story driven by subtle dialogue which is truly clever. I find the denouement unsatisfactory and incomplete, however.
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I'm not sure that I fully understood this selection (I'm not much for plays and poetry) but if I understood it correctly than I thought it an excellent commentary on the dangers of smothering humanity with political correctness.
Also, I'm REALLY not sure I understood the end, but if I did, than I had very little pity for Carol.
Also, I'm REALLY not sure I understood the end, but if I did, than I had very little pity for Carol.
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Mamet Speak without the profanity... this play is a dysfunctional, miscommunicated conversation between a college professor and his student. Multiple interpretations - brings up great questions about ways in which we communicate.
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Read in May, 2008
The absurdity of political correctness redefining hierarchies of power in male/female, student/teacher, citizen/law relations in a very realistic way. Mamet takes a very topical and important theme then extracts the idiocy of it while insightfully critiquing it. I don't think I cant but help to like this.
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This is one of my absolutely favorite plays and playwrites! Mamet never ceases to amaze me with his literary genious. The diversity that lives within this text is nothing less than phenomenal. I read it for the first time in high school; performed two different scenes and directed one as well.
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Terrificly tense! Ever since I read this I have wanted to see an actual production. As riveted as I was to the text I can only imagine how suspenseful it would be in person.
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Read in March, 2006
Plays with your mind a bit, somewhat like Doubt, but then shocks you in the end.
It leaves you trying to decide whether or not you liked it. It took me about a week and the use of a monologue from it before I realized how much it irked me.
It leaves you trying to decide whether or not you liked it. It took me about a week and the use of a monologue from it before I realized how much it irked me.
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Read in March, 2004
I found myself haunted by this play for days upon finishing it for a grad school postmodern drama course. The pliability and subjectivity of language made me simultaneously fear being misunderstood and fight against the limits of language.
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It could be a metaphor of dominating others. Philosophical & Phsycological, very intriguing and different as we always look for a story in drama. Dialogues are different here , I just remember Sartre.
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Disturbing play about sexual harassment between a male college professor and a female student. It's been a while since I read it, but I recall it being gripping.
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Written in 93', this plays takes PC culture and academia head-on. Apparently, when it premiered in NY there were actually physical fights after the show.
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Read in December, 2007
Argh! This play made me so mad! I can't decide who's at fault because if I tell anyone, I know that a debate will immediately ignite.
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Read in January, 2001
Not to say it's a bad play by any means. It's not that I didn't like it so much that it didn't really resonate for me too much.
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