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BOSTON
MARRIAGE — NEW AMBASSADORS
Review by Kayla Hochfelder
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Zoe Wannamaker and Anna Chancellor in David
Mamet's drawing room drama
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Following in the line of the 19th century drawing room comedy,
David Mamet has written a wonderful, stylized play of manners -
but in good Mamet fashion - with a twist. Boston Marriage is Mamet's
most recent work, and a surprising one at that. The writer of the
male voice in such landmark plays as Glengarry Glenn Ross, Mamet
has focussed his attention solely on three women.
As the title refers, Boston Marriage concerns the intimate relationship
between two women fashionable in late 19th century New England.
Zoe Wannamaker takes on the role of Anna, a woman of society entangled
with a married male lover in order to support her lifestyle. Her
partner Claire, played by Anna Chancellor, is besotted with a young
girl whom she is in lurid claim for as a mistress. Within Anna's
garish pink chintz drawing room, the love affairs unfold amidst
constant hysterical interruptions by Anna's Scottish maid Catherine.
The naïve Catherine, played by newcomer Lyndsay Marshal, is outstanding
in her comedic timing and complements the excellent acting of Wannamaker
and Chancellor.
Mamet's language games are definitely the centre-point of the
play, allowing him to uncover the raw urges that underlay the polite
activities of the cultivated New England drawing room. Heavy, textured,
turn of the century phrases interlace with colloquial slang and
cutting swear words - creating exquisite literary banter loaded
with double entendres. Boston Marriage, although basic in structure,
twists and turns along Mamet's well-crafted dialogue. In pure Mamet
fashion, you are left not knowing who truly has been had —
the characters or yourself!
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BOSTON MARRIAGE |
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New Ambassadors, |
| West Street London WC2H
9ND |
| Bookings |
| Online: click
here |
| Book
Until |
| 16 Feb 2002
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| Times
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| Mon-Sat 7:30pm,
Matinees Sat 3:00pm |
| Prices |
| £15-£32.50
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| Tube |
| Leicester
Square |
| Buses |
| 14, 19, 22,
24, 29, 38, 40, 176 |
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