Publisher Description

Mamet's ground-breaking and controversial play on the male-femalepower struggle, annotated with an introduction, notes and commentary. "An ear for reproducing everyday language has long been DavidMamet's hallmark and he has now employed it to skewer the dogmatic,puritannical streak which has become commonplace on and off the campus.With Oleanna he continues an exploration of male-female conflicts begunwith Sexual Perversity in Chicago in 1974. Oleanna cogentlydemonstrates that when free thought and dialogue are imperilled, nobodywins." (Michael Wise, Independent) In Oleanna "John and Carol go to it with hand-to hand combatthat amounts to a primal struggle for power. As usual with Mamet, thevehicle for that combat is crackling, highly distilled dialogueunencumbered by literary frills or phony theatrical ones." (Frank Rich,International Herald Tribune)

Notes

Student edition of the ground-breaking and controversial play on the male-female power struggle.

Author Biography

David Mamet is one of the most distinctive voices on the contemporaryAmerican stage. He was born and had his first and many subsequent playspremiere in Chicago. His screenplays include: The Postman Always RingsTwice, The Verdict, The Untouchables, We're No Angels and GlengarryGlen Ross; he was writer and director for House of Games, Things Changeand Homicide.

Review

John and Carol go to it with hand-to hand combat that amounts to a primal struggle for power. As usual with Mamet, the vehicle for that combat is crackling, highly distilled dialogue unencumbered by literary frills or phony theatrical ones. * Frank Rich, International Herald Tribune *
An ear for reproducing everyday language has long been David Mamet's hallmark and he has now employed it to skewer the dogmatic, puritannical streak which has become commonplace on and off the campus. With Oleanna he continues an exploration of male-female conflicts begun with Sexual Perversity in Chicago in 1974. Oleanna cogently demonstrates that when free thought and dialogue are imperilled, nobody wins. * Michael Wise, Independent *

Promotional

Oleanna is Mamet's most celebrated and performed play, exploringmale-female conflicts. This Student Edition is annotated, with achronology of David Mamet's life and work, a discussion of variousinterpretations and notes on individual words and phrases in the textas well as questions for study.

Long Description

'Mamet''s ground-breaking and controversial play on the male-female power struggle, annotated with an introduction, notes and commentary. An ear for reproducing everyday language has long been David Mamet''s hallmark and he has now employed it to skewer the dogmatic, puritanical streak which has become commonplace on and off the campus. With Oleanna he continues an exploration of male-female conflicts begun with Sexual Perversity in Chicago in 1974. ''Oleanna cogently demonstrates that when free thought and dialogue are imperilled, nobody wins.'' (Michael Wise, Independent) In Oleanna John and Carol go to it with hand-to hand combat that amounts to a primal struggle for power. ''As usual with Mamet, the vehicle for that combat is crackling, highly distilled dialogue unencumbered by literary frills or phoney theatrical ones. ''(Frank Rich, International Herald Tribune)'

Details