Oleanna

• Opened Assembly Rooms
  Edinburgh International Fringe Festival 2002
  
• Full UK Tour September 02 - February 03
  play by David Mamet
• performed by Guy Masterson
  and Beth Fitzgerald
• directed by Emma Lucia

Reviews:

"This, you realise, is the play about political correctness... Emma Lucia has given it further impetus by relocating the action to an English university, which reveals how much British academic institutions have tried to magic away concrete political problems by changing the way we talk about them... I feel the sympathies of Lucia's production lie with Guy Masterson's well-crafted tutor - but I know others will argue differently... More than most interpretations, this one finds some degree of hope in the play." (Tim Abrahams - The Sunday Herald, 4 August 2002)

"Guy Masterson's production gains a deeper relevance and forces an examination of social hierarchy and sexism in our own institutions. In the role of the vain lecturer, Masterson drives home the infuriating patronising manner of self-satisfied privilege while Beth Fitzgerald asserts an equally accomplished performance as the right-on student set on challenging the system. Forming an explosive combination, this proves provocative, divisive theatre." (Catherine Bromley - The List, 8 August 2002)

"At its best the play can inspire audiences to side with either character in equal proportions and, guided by director Emma Lucia, Masterson and Fitzgerald have accomplished this ideal. He plays the professor sympathetically, emphasising the well-meaning liberalism that accompanies his self-blindness... She brings a sometimes frightening passion to her character's confident zeal... One of the most emotionally intense and challenging hours on the Fringe." (Gerald Berkowitz - The Stage, 9 August 2002)

"I'm not sure how I've managed not to see this play by David Mamet before now given it's been around for 10 years, however that made this production all the more powerful. The story of John (Guy Masterson), a university lecturer who is destroyed by Carol (Beth Fitzgerald), a not particularly bright yet manipulative student. There was a point early in the show where John says "You don't have to take notes you can just listen". I had to agree, put my notebook on the floor, and sat there spellbound. Chatting to someone before heading off to see the show he told me that he had spoken to Masterson the day before and he was happy with the show. Happy? He should be ecstatic, as should director Emma Lucia who having taken two brilliant actors and equipped them only with two chairs, two bags, and a mobile phone on the huge stage of the Assembly Rooms' Ballroom could not have done a better job. It is a measure of great theatre that one becomes so engrossed one loses all sense of time. I thought this finished after 20 minutes until I checked my watch and found I'd been there for the best part of 90 minutes."(Martin Powell, Scotsgay Magazine, 9 August 2002)

"As soon as Masterson and the excellent Beth Fitzgerald open their mouths, one knows this is going to be a new take on a modern classic... Masterson's superbly acted professor shifts between self-satisfied posturing and human angst... Fitzgerald drags us into the piece as comprehensively as she pulls her needless adversary down." (Mark Brown - Scotland on Sunday, 11 August 2002)

"Fitzgerald and Masterson put in electric performances. Sparks fly as they argue, with the tension becoming so intense it will have you wriggling in your seat... This is a superb production that's guaranteed to make you think." (Paul Rhodes - The Scotsman, 15 August 2002)

"Does David Mamet translate to a UK context? In the hands of Guy Masterson and Beth Fitzgerald, it sure does... The believable nightmare flipside to the dream fantasy that is Educating Rita - and it is as well acted as you would expect of two regular deliverers on the Fringe... Does not produce a one-sided reading... In these hands it is timeless. Worringly so." (Keith Bruce - The Herald, 15 August 2002)

"Across a decade and from one continent to another, the play has lost none of its power. In fact, it seems to work even better in this context. Particularly with two fine performances from Beth Fitzgerald and Guy Masterson... In a succession of personal tutorials that descend into vitriolic verbal exchanges, she demonstrates that he is not merely wrong, but that he is wrong because everyone else is on her side... A verbal battle that is outrageous in its intensity and outcome." (Thom Dibdin - Edinburgh Evening News, 15 August 2002)

"A very good production... Guy Masterson and Beth Fitzgerald give excellent performances in this exploration of gender and power." (Philip Fisher - British Theatre Guide, 20 August 2002)

"A fine rendering of this acclaimed and much argued over play. Beth Fitzgerald seethes with anger and confusion... Masterson prowls around the stage expressing his exasperation with Carol in sweat, spray and anger... With education in crisis, Oleanna looks fresh... As the stunned audience filed out of the Assembly Ballroom, the debate about who was right and who was wrong had begun and it's impossible not to have an opinion." (Max Blinkhorn - edinburghguide.com, 12 August 2002)

"Everybody should experience the shock of this play." (Sunday Times)

"Oleanna was one of the most stimulating experiences I've had in a theater" (Roger Ebert)

"Mamet's clenched fist to the gut - and intellect - a vicious and timely riff on sexual harassment and political correctness" (New Yorker)

"There can be no tougher or more unflinching play than Oleanna" (Harold Pinter)

Biographies:

Beth Fitzgerald (performer)	Guy Masterson: (performer)
Emma Lucia (director) Emma Lucia (MA) has worked in theatre in the UK, North America and the Far East. Upon graduating she worked as an assistant director for Method and Madness and Clwyd Theatr Cymru. Since 2000 she has produced plays for international touring under the company name Indigo Entertainments which has taken award-winning theatre to far flung corners of the globe. She also produces award ceremonies for the theatre, television and film industries and regularly lectures in drama in various British universities.
David Mamet (author) Plays include: Boston Marriage, Oleanna, Edmond, The Shawl, Prairie du Chien, Glengarry Glen Ross (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1984, released as film with Mamet screenplay), American Buffalo, A Life in the Theatre, Lakeboat, Reunion, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Water Engine, The Woods, Speed-The-Plow, Bobby Gould in Hell, Three Sisters (adaptation from Chekhov). Screenplays include: State and Main, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, The Untouchables, House of Games (also directed), Things Change (co-written with Shel Silverstein & directed), Homicide (directed), We're No Angels, Ace in the Hole, Deerslayer, High and Low, Hoffa. Books of essays include: Writing in Restaurants, On Directing Film, Some Freaks, The Cabin.