Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles in ‘Oleanna’: What did the critics think?
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After nearly 17 years, David Mamet’s ‘Oleanna’ may not be as controversial as it once was, but the two-character drama evidently still has the power to divide critics. The current revival at the Mark Taper Forum, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, has L.A. reviewers hurling praise and invective in equal measure.
Written in the heyday of political correctness and the culture wars, ‘Oleanna’ focuses on a gender battle between a middle-aged professor (Pullman) and his earnest female student (Stiles). Accusations of sexual impropriety fly as the verbal pugilists drag each other down in an ideological war of attrition.
Directed by Tony winner Doug Hughes, the production is rumored for a Broadway transfer. It certainly drew a number of stars (and the playwright) to its recent premiere and continues to provoke visceral audience reactions -- viewers have written in to Culture Monster to report hissing and cheering at key points in the story.
Theater critics, who usually pride themselves on refusing to take the playwright’s bait, are expressing an unusual amount of passion, both positive and negative, for a well-worn revival production.
Thought not a fan of the play, Charles McNulty of the L.A. Times wrote that the production elevated the material to new heights: ‘This production opened it up in a way that allowed me to finally appreciate what must have attracted Harold Pinter to direct the 1993 London premiere at the Royal Court.’ He added that ‘Hughes’ direction clarified that the real subject under investigation isn’t the surface one of identity politics but rather the way in which language serves as a subterfuge for insecure power games -- a Pinteresque theme if ever there was one.’
Bob Verini of Variety lavished praise on the actors: ‘No doubt bolstered by a 2004 London turn, Stiles slips effortlessly into Carol’s chameleon skin, following the playwright’s dictum simply to say the words with absolute conviction and all else will follow.... Pullman’s horrified stagger, upon looking into the heart of darkness to spew out the most hateful of epithets (yes, words matter!), is one of the spellbinding emotional exhibitions of this theatrical year.’
Also impressed was Les Spindle of Backstage, who wrote that the ‘play illuminates the dangerous human capacity for allowing emotional reactions to cloud rational thinking. Director Doug Hughes and two consummate actors provide a fresh and mesmerizing take on this seminal Mamet work.’
In the opposing critical camp was L.A. Weekly’s Steven Leigh Morris: ‘After all these years, and with Pullman’s affable performance juxtaposed against Stiles’ stoic confusion and indignation, the play strains more than ever to express some serious ideas through a kangaroo court.’
Paul Hodgins of the Orange County Register echoed the sentiment: ‘Like that aging uncle whose cantankerous rants get more and more tedious with the passing years, ‘Oleanna’ hasn’t aged well.’ He qualified his negative review by adding that the cast and director ‘do their best to make ‘Oleanna’ seem more than the sum of its overheated parts -- and at times they succeed.’
-- David Ng
