The Woods, Lakeboat, Edmond: Three Plays

by David Mamet

The Woods, described by the Chicago Daily News as a “beautifully conceived love story,” is a modern dramatic parable in which a young man and woman who spend a night in his family’s cabin experience passion, then disillusionment, but are in the end reconciled by mutual need.

In Lakeboat, eight crew members aboard a merchant ship exchange their wild fantasies about sex, gambling, and violence.

In Edmond, a man set morally adrift leaves an unfulfilling marriage to find sex, adventure, companionship, and, ultimately, the meaning of his existence.

Of The Woods, Richard Eder of The New York Times wrote that Mamet’s “language has never been so precise, pure, and affecting.”

Michael Feingold in The Village Voice praised Lakeboat for its “richly overheard talk and its loopy, funny construction.”

Jack Kroll of Newsweek called Edmond “a riveting theatrical experience that illuminates the heart of darkness.”

Genres: Plays, Drama

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 14, 1987

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

[david · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Woods” and “Lakeboat” were not typical Mamet excellence in this reader's opinion.

“Edmond” was excellent!

[Jon Weidler · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Edmond"'s the best of the bunch - a bilious, id-driven scream possessed of a fearlessness that goes increasingly unseen in today's popular entertainment. The others are decent if oblique - Mamet's correlations often feel random and showy, as do his characters' tendencies to backtrack in the conversation. The lack of stage direction also takes some getting used to. Three stars if you take the route of reading the dialog aloud.

[Alex Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edmond is the best play here. The atmosphere, which pulls the reader's attention taut with the lascivious and venal makings of the city's underbelly, is really quite a journey. From the auspicious opening which begs the question, "If were not meant for our existence, where do we truly belong?"

[Asa Merritt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read "The Woods." Solid. Recalls Chekhov in its atmosphere and Shepard in its sex.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff.

[Sherry]

Read The Woods but not the other two.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Woods is quite excellent.

[Josh Denver · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Woods- 3.5
I really liked how fast the dialogue moves on this but it was a little stagnant.
Lakeboat-3
Least fav of the bunch, hard to understand what characters purposes are, what was the theme we were supposed to take away?
Edmond-3.5
This is trying something for sure, I think the ending really ties this up nice for me, seeing his constant struggle for money was very enlightening and also seeing him radicalizing himself is fun.

[Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this solely for Edmond and ended up really digging all three plays. Nobody talks about the Lakeboat, but it’s another stellar study in masculinity from Mamet.