Mamet Plays: 5: Boston Marriage; Dr Faustus; Romance

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A collection of outstanding plays from one of America's greatest playwrights Boston Marriage David 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 Post Faustus A 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. Romance Wildly 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

Reviews

Mamet is a connoisseur of fiasco, knows all about legal punctilio, and he has great fun bringing mayhem to the ritual * New Yorker *
[Mamet's characters] are at each other's throats with a wit akin to characters out of Wilde and a vengeance not unlike those from Pinter or Edward Albee * Boston Globe *
The finest American playwright of his generation * The Sunday Times *
No modern playwright has been bolder or more brilliant * New Yorker *
Pinter, Albee, Miller. Theyre all looking over Mamets shoulder. * New Yorker *

Author Bio

David Mamet is one of Americas most important contemporary writers. He won the Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed-the-Plow. As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict and Wag the Dog. He is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company. Many of his plays have been premiered by the St Nicholas Theatre company, Chicago, of which Mamet was a founding member and Artistic Director. In 1978 he became Associate Artistic Director of the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, where American Buffalo had been first staged in 1975, subsequently winning an Obie Award and opening on Broadway in 1977 and at the National Theatre in 1978. His greatest hits, Glengarry Glen Ross and Oleanna, followed in 1983 and 1993 respectively. Mamet received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for Grand Master of American Theater in 2010.