The Shawl & Prairie du Chien

by David Mamet

The Shawl— which opened to critical and popular acclaim in April 1985— is about a smalltime mystic out to bilk a bereaved woman of her inheritance. In Prairie du Chien a railroad car speeding through the Wisconsin night is the setting for a violent story of obsessive jealousy, murder and suicide punctuated by the camaraderie of a friendly card game exploding into a moment of menace.

Genres: Plays, Drama

96 pages, Paperback

Published January 14, 1994

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

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mamet. Sparse directions. Taut dialogue. Pauses.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prairie Du Chien, originally a radio piece, is a lovely work. The juxtaposition of an unusual story told by one man to another with violence that breaks out in a card game creates a very satisfying train-ride experience.

The Shawl is a great example of the frontstage-backstage confidence-game work for which Mamet is well known. After a slow first act, we get to go backstage with the two confidence men and learn a bit about how fortune-tellers/psychics work their magic. After a classic Mamet reversal -- the client cons the con-man -- the con-man strikes back with a trump card, completely silencing the client's criticism. For anyone who has ever tried one of those $5 roadside psychics, this play is certainly illuminating. And even if the information Mamet uses as fuel for the tricks and techniques of these men is false, it still rings true, and that's all one can hope for when Mamet is at work, as Mamet the Writer is truly a confidence man himself.

[Steve Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this so much better than some of his others I’ve read of late. Two very short plays. Mamet is a master of dialogue. There is nothing here BUT that. The rest is up to the director and actor to work with. Either of these would be fun to bring to the stage.

[Shawn Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've only read The Shawl. A very different read from Glengarry Glen Ross. Not nearly as profane.

[Kaveh Rezaie · Rating 3 out of 5]

شال.
یک شارلاتان و همکارش، دفتری راه انداخته‌اند که روح احضار می‌کنند. همه‌ی نمایشنامه، گفتگویی ست که میان یک خانم ساده‌لوح و این شارلاتان در همین مورد شکل می‌گیرد.

[AR · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shawl: 4 stars

Prairie Du Chien: 3 stars

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

These just didn't work for me. I'm sure there's something sinister at work in them, especially Prairie du Chien, but they seemed thin.

[Harry Egerton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prairie Du Chien - 2/5
The Shawl - 3/5

[Sidney, uh, Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd, still plenty good.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only listened to The Shawl, so I can't really speak for Prairie Du Chien. However, The Shawl was an excellent, short, little play. Centered on Mamet's favorite theme: the con, this is the story of an experienced "psychic," who is teaching a novice the art, while dealing with a woman who has issues with her mother's will. I don't want to spoil the surprises, as they were a lot of fun to explore and the questions left at the end work so much better than any reveal possibly could - which might just be the best reveal. Search this one out if you like Mamet's conmen stories.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so is the point at the end that the guy really is a mind reader? Or did he really find out that extra detail about the shawl through research? And I suppose the notion that the other guy was (by implication) gay was deemed to increase his decadence factor; on the whole (as usual with this stuff) too subtle for my shoulders. The other one...well, I guess the inclusion of the Boy character does lend it a certain eeriness--the nightmare background he (and maybe all of us) has to grow up in.

[W.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the brief Prairie du Chien. One of my favorites by Mamet.

The Shawl is one of those amazing pieces where you think you are seeing yet another of Mamet's beloved swindlers and grifters working their magic...and then you begin to suspect something has gone frighteningly wrong in the universe, and your sense of confidence in your own judgments about reality are suddenly thrown into question...

David is the master of the mindfuck play.

He deserves the acclaim.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not David Mamet at his best ...