20TH CENTURY SOCIO-POLITICAL DRAMA SEMINAR PREPARATION

Title of play: Oleanna Date of first stage performance: First performed in 1992 by The Black Bay Theatre Company in association with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Date of film adaptation: First adapted into film in 1994 and directed by David Mamet. Author: David Mamet Authors date & place of birth: Born in Chicago in 1947. 3 significant details of authors personal circumstances/times in which play was written:

Oleanna established its noteworthiness because, like other landmarks of modern drama it set off a firestorm of controversy in the wake of its initial production in the US and Britain. Dealing with issues such as gender, national identity, as well as proscribed language. Gender conflict, views of power, sexism. Twentieth- Century New Woman. The play was considered a postmodern classic.
The play is considered as postmodern achievement. According to Contemporary drama arises in the wake of postmodernism, the world view as explained by Lyotard in The Postmodern Condition, in which there are no successful overarching grand stories attempting to explain the world with religious or political models. The nineteenth- century progress narrative, that things are getting better and better, evolving, for example, has broken down. No single unifying story can connect a majority into one view of the world. Fredric Jameson amplifies the idea with an explanation that from the 1950s late capitalism has become increasingly global. At the same time, air travel and television have brought people into a much larger, multivalent world than they previously knew. And the middle class, in unprecedented numbers, began going away from home to universities. All of this brings people increasingly into contact with

conflicting viewpoints and multiple contexts from which to understand each issue.1 The plays staging on Broadway received mixed reviews from the audience; with arguments and fights breaking out during the intermission. Mamet explains his view on the controversy to Charlie Rose: Well, I heard from most people, many people thought that the balance of power or the balance of rectitude, if you will- [] between the two protagonists was lopsided. But they didnt always think that the same person was on top. A lot of people thought that the, the [sic] man was right and the woman was wrong and that Id slanted it that way, and a lot of people thought the opposite. And thats why people were slapping each other around in the lobby because they each, the audience each thought, or the members of the audience vehemently believed that their hero in the play was correct and that the other persons hero was wrong. (Rose, 1994: 164-5)2

Structure of play: Acts/scenes, timescale: The play takes place in Johns office. With three acts in total the stage performance is apparently timed to last approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, with one interval of fifteen minutes between Act one and Act two.

Main

Characterisation: characters in play & very brief summary of Personality Role in play Key quotation (act, scene, line reference) John: is described as a man in his forties. He is a professor of higher education; we gather from phone conversations that he is moving house. As a Professor of higher education, he notices changes in the education system, particularly the increase of students attending College, he questions: Well, then, what is higher education? It is something-otherthan-useful. [] It has become a ritual, it has become an article of faith. That all must be subjected to, or to put it differently, that all are entitled to Higher Education (Act one, p. 28)
1 2

David Sauer. David Mamets Oleanna (Modern Theatre) Ibd.

This point offends Carol, a twenty year old student she replies, How can you say in a class. Say in a college class, that college education is a prejudice? (Act 1, p.31). To Carol, who (mentions that she) has made great scarifies to come to college she finds what John teaches- namely that higher education is useless- as offensive.

4. Dramaturgy & language: choose a two page extract and comment on the choice of language and dramatic effects: Act, Scene & page number: Act I, page 10-11. The language in this section is very realistic, Mamet set out the dialogue between the characters of John and Carol as if they are two real people having a conversation in an office. Like real conversation, the dialogue breaks off, follows thought and drifts off in mid sentence, leaving sentences unfinished, for example Carol drifts off in the middle of a sentence when she says: I read your book. I read it. I dont under Reading this line can be taken both by the reader or the actor playing Carol as either an indication of her frustration and anger at John or her despair and frustration at herself for not being able to understand his work. Things are also implied through Mamets language, for example when Carol says How can I go back and tell them the grades that I With this sentence, Mamet paints a back story for Carol, although he does not give anything away, the implication is there as it suggests that Carol might have sacrificed a lot to get an education and so desperately needs to succeed, hence her desperate plea to John: Teach me. Teach me. Miscommunication seems to be the foundation and premise of the text, in this two page section both characters are essentially flawed as many times it seems that Carol deliberately misunderstands when John says he is not her father and despite Johns denial, Carol insistently replies in question Did I say you were my father? In a way, on paper, Mamet makes Carols seem deliberately obtuse and seeking confrontation. On the other hand John is also a flawed character in the way that he does not directly address Carols concerns. Although he says repeatedly What dont you understand when Carol clarifies what she does not understand he uses very difficult language and concepts which throws

Carol into more confusion. Although the stage directions in this play are brief and to the point, Mamet also exposes Johns unprofessionalism through language and stage directions as John (picks up the phone) while Carol is talking, thus in affect bringing Carol, a student, into his personal private life. Having read the whole play and re-reading the last section of page 11, it seems that Mamet leans more towards Johns side rather than Carols. Although I initially felt sorry for Carol her repetition of her supposed ignorance, her rebuffs and coldness to Johns kind words, also swayed me towards Johns side. I guess that is the beauty of the play, it is relative to interpretation and open to debate and discussion on issues of sexism, sexual harassment, political correctness and language.

Socio-political Themes: 2 quotations to illustrate each (with Act, Scene, page number) 1. Education: Primarily explored through language, as the play in centred in an educated environment in which a student and professor come to a misunderstanding. CAROL: Nobody tells me anything. And I sit therein the corner. In the back. And everybodys taking about this all the time. And concepts, and precepts and, and, and, and, and, WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? And I read your book. And they said, Fine, go in that class. Because you talked about responsibility to the young. I DONT KNOE WHAT IT MEANS AND IM FAILING (Act 1, p. 14) CAROL: I dont know what a paradigm is. JOHN: Its a model. CAROL: Then why cant you use that word? (Pause) (Act 2, p. 45)

2. Class/Race: Mainly noticeable through language. John is a white, male middle class professor, in a secure position in his career and job-(wrote book, buying house, receiving tenure). Carol on the other hand is a white, female and it is suggests that she is disadvantages and so has scarified a lot to get an education (p. 11), thus her unwillingness to fail.

JOHN: [] I say college education, since the war, has become so a matter of course, and such a fashionable necessity, for those of either of or aspiring to to the new vast middle class, that we espouse it, as a matter of right, and have ceased to ask, What is it good for? (pause) (Act I, 33). CAROL: [] -You mock us. You call education hazing, and from your soprotected, so elitist seat you hold our confusion as a joke, and our hopes and efforts with it. (Act 2. p, 52) RACE: - JOHN: [] where is it written that I have to send my child to public schoolIs it a law that I have to improve the City Schools at the expense of my own intrest? And, is this simply The White Mans Burden? . (Act 1, p. 34) 3. Gender: Is centred on the male-female relationship in the workplace, reflected by the teacher- pupil relationship that Carol and John inhabit. There relationship ends with an accusation of rape sparking questions about sexism and political correctness. CAROL: What gives you the right. Yes. To speak to a woman in your private.Yes. Yes. Im sorry. Im sorry. You feel yourself empoweredyou say so yourself. To strut. To posture. To perform. To Call me in here Eh? You say that higher education is a joke. And treat it as such, you treat it as such. And confess to a taste to play the Patriarch in your class. To grant this. To deny that. To embrace your students. (Act 2, p.51). CAROL: I thought you knew [] You tried to rape me. (Pause) According to the law. (Pause) (Act 3, 77).

4. Power: Throughout the play, power becomes a significant characteristic of Johns personality. During John and Carols first private meeting in Johns office, he demonstrates both his power and superior knowledge, using words unclear and foreign sounding to Carol. John repeatedly employs an artificiallyheightened vocabulary that draws attention to his academic status, favouring words like obeisance or paradigm, instead of their simpler synonyms, thus putting Carol at a disadvantage. However towards the end of the play the power shifts, as Carol accuses him of rape and assault it is John who is left asking for help and understanding. CAROL: I dont care what you feel. Do you see? DO YOU SEE? You cant do that anymore. You. Do. Not. Have. The. Power. Did you misuse it? Someone did.

Are you part of that group? Yes. Yes. You Are. Youve done these things. And to say, and to say, Oh. Let me help you with your problem (Act 2, p. 50). JOHN: [] I want to tell you something. Im a teacher. I am a teacher. Eh? Its my name on the door, and I teach the class, and thats what I do. Ive got a book with my name on it. And my son will see that book someday. And I have to responNo, Im sorry I have a responsibilityto myself, to my son, to my professionI havent been home for two days, do you know that? Thinking this out. (Act 3, p.76). CAROL: (exiting)and dont call your wife baby. (Act 3, 79).

Critical comments/reviews 3 quotations (author, publication, date, page no.)

If Mamet's play has the power of prophecy, it has slightly diminished as drama. Simply put, the scales are no longer even. In the original production, the unctuous male academic seemed as much a victim of circumstance as his passive-aggressive female student. Yet today, for someone in a position of authority to make physical contact without expecting disciplinary action seems culpable or, at best, nave. [] The opening exchanges are the best: Clare Foster's cheeks burn and glisten with tears of frustration as Alistair McGowan drapes smug condescension round her like a suffocating blanket. Would his character really expect to go unchallenged about referring to a committee that includes women as "good men and true"? Either way, McGowan and Foster strike me as a lovely pair of blokes. -April 2011, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham. Alfred Hickling, Guardian. Juliet Forster's production locates the action in the present, as the use of mobile phones and laptops indicates. More controversially, she locates it in the UK, which creates more problems than it solves. The lecturer makes calls to his "realtor", rather than his estate agent, while the academic-job-for-life system critical to the plot is a US construct. [] Although the jittery mannerism of "Mamet-speak" has become a cliche worth challenging, the rhythmic snap of the dialogue is so unnatural to British cadences it simply sounds as if you are listening to it at the wrong speed. Kevin McGowan and Claire-Louise Cordwell acquit themselves well,

despite being required to spin the desk between scenes in a clunky piece of choreography. For a play about the dangers of patronage, it's curious not to trust the audience to see the tables turn for themselves. November 2010, Theatre Royal, York, Alfred Hickling, Guardian. A decade ago David Mamet's play raised tempests and divided partners. Now, with two perfectly decent Hollywood actors in the lead, it seems rather cool: a clever artifice in which you are more aware than before of Mamet's manipulation. []Pinter's brilliant 1993 production restored the moral equilibrium by implying that the professor was physically attracted to his student: in his heart, at least, he was culpable. But, in Lindsay Posner's production, Aaron Eckhart's John seems intellectually overbearing but physically shy. [] What you are left with is a skilful thesis-drama in which a hero is destroyed by false accusation rather than, as with Albee's The Goat, a scorching tragedy in which hubris gets its come-uppance. April 2004 Garrick, London. Micheal Billington.

3 Other plays of the period (1990s) with very brief summary of plot

Lanford Wilsons Redwood Curtain (1992): The play's main character is Geri, a seventeen-year-old whose mother is a Vietnamese florist and whose father, an American GI, impregnated his lover and then disappeared. Another American soldier found Geri and took her to the United States. This soldier, Laird Riordan, and his wife, Julia, adopted Geri and raised her in California. Geri develops into a concert pianist who has a promising career before her. John Guares "Six Degrees of separation" (1990): The play explores the existential premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else in the world by a chain of no more than six acquaintances, thus, "six degrees of separation". The plot of the play was inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, a con man who managed to convince a number of people in the 1980s that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. After the play became a dramatic and financial success, Hampton was tried and acquitted for harassment of Guare; he felt he was due a share of the profits that he ultimately never received Neil Simons Lost in Yonkers (1991): Set in Yonkers, New York, in 1942, this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play captures the tumult of the period

by focusing on the lives of three generations of one family, all of whom are dealing with personal issues in addition to the traumas of World War II. Arty, age 13, and Jay, age 15, whose mother has just died of cancer, must move in with their stern immigrant grandmother and sweet, but ditzy, Aunt Bella while their father works for ten months in the South. Grandma Kurnitz, who (ironically) runs a sweet shop, is embittered by her life: only four of her six children survive, and none of them are close to her. She does not know her grandchildren and does not want them living with her and messing up her life and her house, facts she makes plain to the boys from the outset. Ruling with an iron hand, she terrifies everyone around her. The coming-of-age of Arty and Jay, as they learn to deal with Grandma and eventually learn to respect her, is not without its complications as the rest of the family involves the boys in their own issues. Aunt Bella, who is mentally and emotionally a child, falls in love. Aunt Gert, who can speak only as she exhales, and wheezes as she inhales (the result of a childhood trauma involving Grandma), checks in periodically on Grandma and Bella but tries to avoid Grandma. Uncle Louie is a bagman for the mob, and he is on the run. Their father, who maintains a dramatic presence through his letters, cannot come home until he has earned enough to pay off the loan sharks to whom he is indebted for the money for his wife's cancer treatments. Moments of great drama, wit, and poignancy play out within the apartment, with all the action revolving around Grandma. Gradually, the reader/viewer develops empathy for this victim of life's tragedies, a woman who has made her own life more difficult than it needed to be and permanently damaged the lives of her family. The liveliness and optimism of Arty and Jay, as they try to survive Grandma and their life with her, cast the damaged lives of their elders into sharp relief, adding to the dramatic intensity of the climax. Firmly grounded in time, place, and atmosphere, this play, like many other Simon plays, provides a close-up look at a struggling family in New York and reveals its action from the point of view of a child who comes of age during the action. A beautiful evocation of man's universal need for love and respect.