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Oleanna
(Garrick Theatre)
When
Oleanna, David Mamet's taut two-hander about university campus
sexual politics and the cult of Political Correctness, was first
produced twelve years ago, it quickly became one of the most combustible
and combative plays of the era.
| "Mamet's
debate still
has the power to provoke a new 21st-century audience into fresh
waves of revulsion and rage..." |
In
Mamet's own words, "a succes de scandal - a handy French phase
meaning everyone was so enraged by it that they had to see it."
But nowadays, with the likes of Ricky Gervais peddling a new brand
of deliciously non-PC comedy, aren't we over this sort of thing?
discrimination
Not
if a story in the Evening Standard on the opening night of this
new West End revival is any indication:
English
National Opera has issued new guidelines to their employees on the
subject of sexual discrimination at work, and the rules include
the following statement.
"The
use of affectionate names such as 'darling' will also constitute
sexual harassment."
Meanwhile, on stage around the corner from ENO, an everyday story
of classroom politics - in which a young female student seeks to
have an assignment that she has failed re-marked - explodes into
a blistering expose of the language of sexual politics.
revulsion
She
eventually accuses her tutor of rape, applying the letter of the
law to the way he tries to restrain her departure from the room
after her report to the Tenure Committee threatens his promotion.
 Mamet
may skew the debate unfavourably against the student but, as superbly
acted by two terrific American film actors, Julia Stiles (pictured
right) and Aaron Eckhart, it provokes a new 21st-century audience
into fresh waves of revulsion and rage.
Lindsay
Posner's meticulous production succeeds in maintaining the darkening
tension throughout.
Agree
or disagree with our review? Add your comments below...
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