Review: Oleanna

Mamet’s People, Mamet’s Problem

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

David Mamet’s writing can often feel like a kind of theatrical assault, with a broad sweep of ideas and points of view conveyed in dialogue that is not just perpetually active, but often heavy on colloquialism and peculiarity. Oleanna, his two-handed power play, is no exception, pitting a young student’s seemingly self-righteous political correctness against her teacher, whose sense of old world familiarity seems to mask much darker impulses. 

It’s a tough piece for Jaybird Productions to choose for their debut. For one, when you take on Mamet, you take on Mamet’s clipped dialogue. There’s nary a finished line in the play’s opening, making it difficult for actors James R. Woods and Jacqui Skeete to build momentum, as a tense, yet seemingly benign meeting between teacher and student takes a much more sinister tone. Could the actors and director Jaqui Burke put a few more layers into the exchange to carry it through? Perhaps. But is there something lacking in the play itself?

The Story: Interview - Jacqui Burke of Jaybird Productions on Oleanna

Mamet's Politics Squared

by Christopher Douglas

(Photography by burdettphotography.com. All photos feature Jacqui Skeete as Carol and James R. Woods as John.)

David Mamet's Oleanna is a bold choice for a first production by a new venture. However that's exactly the script that Jaybird Productions decided to tackle. Experienced Producer and Director, Jacqui Burke, explains why she is forging such a brave path for her company.

CHARPO: Why Oleanna for this venture into producing?  

BURKE: Well, I love this show. Oleanna is a riveting piece of work that I've been wanting to direct for some time. But also Jaybird Productions was starting to produce shows that were rarely, if ever, done at the Community Theatre level. Happily, Oleanna falls into this category. Finally, it’s a small show (which means it's inexpensive to produce) – a two-hander that blossoms with minimum production values and is best experienced by an audience, in my opinion, in a tiny house. It’s a natural inaugural production for a fledgling theatre company.

CHARPO: Do you think audiences will be challenged by the political nature of the script? And do you have any plans to mitigate that?
BURKE: It's interesting that you might think I would want to mitigate the power of any script. I think my job as a Director is to help the company tell the story as honestly as we possibly can. Actively buffering the impact of a play or reducing its power to ensure that it’s more palatable to an audience is censorship. That’s not my job.  Yes, this show is challenging and, no, I will not do anything to mitigate its impact. If folks want easy, there’s lots of that kind of stuff on TV.