Rating: 
Summary: gender differences
Review: Oleanna is a modern piece of theatre, taking up a very modern topic. On the one hand, it's the fight between a man and a woman, on the other hand the conflict between a professor and his student. But the issue of gender differences takes overhand and slips into extremes. I owe to say that it's typically American! Oleanna is written in a very special language. The beginning is very difficult because you aren't used to the broken sentences yet. But after a while you get used to the structure and start being keen on reading it. Especially when you read it aloud, you'll understand it more easily. On the whole, I would recommend "Oleanna" to everyone who can read it with a certain distance. So it can be very amusing.Have fun in reading it!
Rating: 
Summary: A harsh look at the educational system
Review: Oleanna was the first David Mamet play I read, and I was very impressed. Oleanna is fast, harsh, and a real jolt. The two characters in the play are a teacher and a student, both with weaknesses and issues. No side is innocent in this play, and that adds to the realism. Neither character is a protagonist, and sections where you think one may be correct are just illusions. Oleanna harshly but craftly shows the faults of the educational system. However, I think this book demonstrates an exchange of power between teacher and student. Without giving the plot away, this power struggle shifts radically in the story and ends with amazing results. I highly recommend this book to anyone and I think it is a great topic for debate!
Rating:
Summary: A harsh look at the educational system
Review: Oleanna was the first David Mamet play I read, and I was very impressed. Oleanna is fast, harsh, and a real jolt. The two characters in the play are a teacher and a student, both with weaknesses and issues. No side is innocent in this play, and that adds to the realism. Neither character is a protagonist, and sections where you think one may be correct are just illusions. Oleanna harshly but craftly shows the faults of the educational system. However, I think this book demonstrates an exchange of power between teacher and student. Without giving the plot away, this power struggle shifts radically in the story and ends with amazing results. I highly recommend this book to anyone and I think it is a great topic for debate!
Rating: 
Summary: Oleanna: Catch-22 for the 1990's
Review: There is never just one version of a story. For any event, there are possibly two or three or more interpretations of the situation. First produced in 1992 on the heels of the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill sexual harassment hearings, Oleanna explores the ramifications of a sexual harassment accusation by a female college student against her male professor. In Act One, John, a middle-aged college professor, meets with Carol, one of his students, to discuss her failing grade in his class. Not long after their meeting, Carol files a sexual harassment complaint against John, placing his tenure, as well as the deposit he has made upon a new house, in jeopardy by the ensuing investigation. John is placed in a difficult situation--all of the actions Carol accuses John of actually did occur. For instance, he met with her alone in an enclosed space, told her a sexually explicit story to illustrate a point, attempted to embrace her, told her he liked her, and urged her to return to his office more often, promising an "A" in his class at the end of the term. Taken out of context, this conduct appears extremely unbecoming, for it seems that John is asking Carol for a sexual favor in exchange for a good grade. The main obstacle I struggled with in this play is the lack of stage directions. While reading the play, it is difficult to tell whether John's actions upset Carol. Her lines do not betray any discomfort or embarrassment, and in fact, portray her as a bit dense. Carol's subsequent complaint and brazen rage against join thus appears incongruous with her original appearance. The second bothersome inconsistency in the play is Carol's character. In the first act, she appears apprehensive, unconfident, and a bit stupid. The text in Act One does not give any indication of latent intellect or hidden rhetorical ability. It takes Carol several pages of dialogue to realize that John and his wife aspire to buy a house, while the reader can pick up on this within the first few sentences of John's opening monologue. But by the second and especially the third acts, Carol has apparently thumbed through a thesaurus to beef up her vocabulary and taken a crash course in rhetoric, as evidenced by her newfound ability to counter any argument John raises against her. Carol, who originally seemed unconfident, pathetic, and unintelligent has developed into a forthright, if not confrontational and incendiary, opinionated woman hellbent on forcing John to admit his wrongdoing. Her sudden change forces the reader to question whether Carol has merely become a figurehead and mouthpiece for a feminist group or anti-sexual harassment campaign, rather than a cognizant, rational individual capable of defending herself. Carol's transformation is inexplicable and incongruous and remains the main annoying inconsistency of the play. As the play progresses, it becomes painfully obvious to the reader that neither individual will budge from their position. Neither will admit their mutual wrongdoing, so no resolution can come from it. While "Oleanna" strives to examine contrasting sides of a complex, emotional issue, it ultimately proves futile within the context of the play. However, Mamet suggests that conflict between the sexes will eventually degenerate into a violent power struggle unless a dialogue is forged. For this reason, "Oleanna" is a worthwhile read, in spite of his annoying flaws and inconsistencies. c. 2000 PLEASE DO NOT REPRODUCE WITHOUT MY CONSENT.
Rating:
Summary: Picking Scabs
Review: This is a very well crafted play that cannot be read lightly. It will make you sick, however. The battle of the sexes and so forth and so on. I like to think of better things, and better people. I wouldn't read it again - feels like picking a scab.
Rating:
Summary: MODERN WOMEN?
Review: We were shocked! We were really shocked! We don't understand why Carol destroys John's life. She can't take an advantage out of this. And all John's efforts and ambitions are in vain. IS THIS THE BEHAVIOUR OF MODERN WOMEN?
Rating:
Summary: More than gender politics!
Review: What starts as a casual meeting between a student who has bad grades in her undergrad (Carol) and her Professor, who had called her to meet up with him, turns into the most horrifying roller-coaster of sexual harrassment. If you thought Disclosure was horrific, this is phantasmagoric. I am directing the play for a local production at the moment. And I felt there are great many issues being discussed than gender politics and political correctness. The play compares in style with a play like Ionesco's THE LESSON (as in it deals with student and teacher relationship) and Duerrenmatt's INCIDENT AT TWILIGHT (also known as An Evening in Late Fall) where the whole fabric of plot takes a reverse swing as the hunted turns the hunter, the victor becomes vanquished, Jerry and Tom exchange roles. But this leaves me gasping for breath. You cannot say anything, not even in MAMETSPEAK! Everything can be twisted and distorted and taken out of context and you could be villified! The play questions the whole foundation of educational system, morality, human relationship, the entire fabric of civilisation. There is a great deal psychologically in common with Mike Cullen's ANNA WEISS. It shows the social circumstances that shape individuals... and in the end the man who is trying to save education from the established non-sensical-become norms of practice ends up the radical and the so-called radically-oriented, stereotypical of her age-group-and-mind-set, teetering on right-wing ideas, student becomes the professor of faith to the ritualised going thru motions of academics called institutionalised education. More terrifying than LORD OF THE FLIES... you feel hunted all over fresh again the moment you feel the reading is over. AFTER THIS, YOU'LL BE SCARED TO TALK!
Rating:
Summary: Harsh
Review: When I finished reading this I was in shock. This is not an uplifting account of men and women working successfully together. No, this is an angry, rapid two hander about a forty someting professor (John) and a twenty year old female student of his (Carol).
What comes about is unclear intentions, challenges to social paradigms of teach/student relations, failed attempts at understanding, insane real estate battles, condescention, feminine warrior martyrdom, overt or covert personal strikes, intellectual agrandizement, life altering accusations, political struggle and humiliations. All before an ultimate destruction.
Sound ridiculous? In a way it is. It is also believeable and scary.
Definitely a good piece for discussion between men and women. A quick read too.
Rating:
Summary: Seen the Play, Here's My Buy
Review: Wow! Double wow!! The Area Stage Co. on Lincoln Road did it like Abbey Knocked onto the Floor by a man who has become another casualty in one of several civil wars that are real as the Littleton Teenage Terrorists. Besides sexual harrassment...this is, besides Crichton's kind of feeble effort the only real address for this manifestation of the sexual revolution. For Mamet, the revolution extends to dialog that sounds like very intense music to sensibilities of the audience, viz Andrew Bellew. This absolutely has to videoed. It reminds me of Spalding Grey a lot, the words, the sexual harrassment war and the gender dynamics that Mamet seems to purport. (The other civil war is over Medicare--how little care Congress can budget without being diselected because the health care in this nation for seniors ain't exactly keeping up with the S&P 500. Medical Savings Account. Sexual Savings Accounts. Book & Theater Accounts. This was a real intense thrill to see!
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