Comments on: The problem with Oleanna https://praxistheatre.com/2011/02/the-problem-with-oleanna/ Wed, 30 Aug 2017 17:16:02 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1 By: Simon https://praxistheatre.com/2011/02/the-problem-with-oleanna/comment-page-1/#comment-3917 Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:37:23 +0000 https://praxistheatre.com/?p=5439#comment-3917 Sorry that’s Mamet–

]]> By: Simon https://praxistheatre.com/2011/02/the-problem-with-oleanna/comment-page-1/#comment-3916 Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:36:10 +0000 https://praxistheatre.com/?p=5439#comment-3916 Andrew, thanks for your comment. I don’t agree that the play is satire. I think it may come across that way in the second and third acts, but that’s only because Mammet is driving it towards a simplistic conclusion.

The first act is hyper-realistic, without a hint of satire. It’s very real, and that’s what makes it so good.

]]> By: Andrew Gaboury https://praxistheatre.com/2011/02/the-problem-with-oleanna/comment-page-1/#comment-3915 Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:22:04 +0000 https://praxistheatre.com/?p=5439#comment-3915 Is it that John is righteous and Carol is a monster? Or is it that this example of fundamentalist-style adherence to political correctness has reached such a bloated, self-consuming state it makes a mockery of the very people who believe in it? 

I agree with the focus of this critique: that one character is flat and easily painted the villain without any redeeming qualities.

But the play is satire and both sides of the satire are conveyed effectively in the play as a whole; in the two characters as opposite sides of the same coin. One thing people don’t seem to question in the character of John is how can this thoroughly educated man, who seems to have his wits about him, be so naive of the burgeoning political correctness movement? This is easily overlooked because the way Mamet has constructed the play and infused it with drama sweeps us up and has us, not only gasping for breath, but struggling to find our footing.

I don’t consider this an “inability to transcend his own personal prejudices” as much as a conscious effort to showcase his personal prejudices. Behind satire hides one person’s voice, after all.

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