Plays 5: Boston Marriage / Faustus / Romance

Collected Plays #5

by David Mamet

A collection of outstanding plays from one of America's greatest playwrightsBoston MarriageDavid Mamet conquers new territory with this droll comedy of errors set in a Victorian drawing-room. Anna and Claire are two bantering, scheming ladies of fashion who have long lived together on the fringes of upper-class society. Anna has just become the mistress of a wealthy man, from whom she has received an enormous emerald and an income to match. Claire, meanwhile, is infatuated with a respectable young lady and wants to enlist the jealous Anna's help for an assignation."Devastatingly funny . . . exceptionally clever" New York Times"Brilliant . . . One of Mamet's most satisfying and accomplished plays, and one of the funniest American comedies in years" New York PostFaustusA modern retelling of the classic tale of pride, folly and the ultimate wager. Faustus has it all - fame, success, a loving family. But a careless pact with a beguiling magician threatens everything. In language, scope and theatrical sensibility, Faustus represents a big departure for Mamet, melding resplendent language and metaphysics in an eerie and moving retelling of the tragedy of Doctor Faustus.RomanceWildly humorous and often gob-smackingly outrageous, Romance is an uproarious courtroom farce, which lampoons the American judicial system and exposes the hypocrisy surrounding personal prejudices and political correctness."An exhilarating spectacle” New Yorker“It made me weep with delight. . . . Romance is funny. Extremely funny.” Wall Street Journal

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 28, 2014

About the author

David Alan Mamet is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for his exploration of masculinity.

As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).

Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.

Reviews

[Elliot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boston Marriage proves Mamet can't really write women, Faustus proves he can be boring, and Romance is just offensive.