Squirrels

by David Mamet

A one-act play about a writer, Arthur, who's been working on the opening line of a story about a man's encounter with a squirrel for 15 years and his assistant/collaborator, and Arthur's cleaning lady/former collaborator.

Genres: Plays

51 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

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

[Travis Handcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right. Well. Um. Hmmm. I want to direct this, but I don't want to direct this. I want to be in this but I don't want to be in this. I want to see it but I don't want to see it... Yeah... Squirrels.

[Nick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Mamet’s third play and there seems to be a Mametian meta-narrative going on. His first play, Duck Variations, was about two people in a park holding conversations that always return to the subject of ducks. In Squirrels two writers, Art and Ed, Ed acting as Art’s assistant, are working on a play or story about a man in a park and his encounter with a squirrel. (Geese later appear in their work.) There is also a cleaning woman who occasionally appears who also has ambitions to write...and she seems to have had a past relationship with Art...and Ed begins to assist her writing. As with Mamet’s previous two plays, it’s witty and distinctive, at times feeling like a series of vaudeville routines. Maybe it’s making some big statement about creativity...or the failure of creativity, but I think it works better as a series of amusements. It’s fine as an early apprentice work, maybe raising concerns that Mamet would treat more completely later on, but it feels less ambitious or demanding than Mamet’s previous Sexual Perversity in Chicago.

[Hasan Abbasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

سنجاب ها ، خوش ریتم و بامزه ...


ارت : میدونی هر شغلی ریتم خودشو داره .
اد : متوجهم
ارت : میدونم متوجهی
اد : من فک میکنم از کار کردنم این حا لذت میبرم . نه فقط به همون دلایلی که تئ فک میکنی .
ارت : نه ؟
اد : من فک میکنم نه ...، نه
ارت : پس به چه دلایلی .
اد : دلایل مختلف
ارت :تو فک میکنی من به چه دلایلیو فک میکنم ؟
اد : فک میکنی دلایل من نادرست باشه .
ارت : من این جور فک میکنم .؟
اد : اره
ارت : خب ، اره این جور فک میکنم.

[Kaveh Rezaie · Rating 3 out of 5]

سنجاب‌ها.
دو نویسنده، یکی جوان و یکی سالخورده در دفتری نشسته‌اند و روی یک داستان کار می‌کنند ولی هرگز نمی‌توانند از چند خط آغازین جلوتر بروند. خدمتکاری هم این میان، هر از گاهی وارد می‌شود. گویا این خانم خدمتکار بسیار واردتر است در داستانگویی.
همه نمایشنامه گفتگوی میان این دو نویسنده است.

[Eric Weisheit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love good writing. I love David Mamet. I love plays. Hmmm ... Not a surprise that I love this play then eh?