BOSTON MARRIAGE: Mamet, New Ambassadors

BOSTON MARRIAGE: David Mamet
New Ambassadors Theatre: a Donmar Warehouse production, Tkts, 020 7369 1761

Runs: 1h 30m, no interval
Review: Vera Lustig, 8 December 2001

Mamet in frivolous mode: arch, verbose period comedy of manners and intrigue, acted to the hilt: exasperating but great fun
Boston Marriage, set amid ostentatious swags of chintz, seems far removed from the desperate blokeyness of Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. Yet, embedded in banter and pastiche, lie those familiar themes of betrayal and trickery.

Mamet is a master of idiosyncratic dialogue, and in BOSTON MARRIAGE the language swerves between the rococo and the demotic, with references to classical mythology rubbing up against an exhortation to get out more. Claire (Chancellor) revisits Anna (Wanamaker) after a long absence, to learn that a male 'protector' is bankrolling the older woman. Claire, meanwhile, has found a new love and wants to use Anna's home for an assignation. Anna, unsurprisingly, is miffed. The pair spar over the tea-table, out Wildeing Wilde.

Zoe Wanamaker and Anna Chancellor rise splendidly to the challenge, though their repartee is less barbed than text and context suggest. Wanamaker, for all her caprice and waspishness, has something of the sad-eyed clown: fragile as well as brittle. Chancellor is gloriously assured, handsome, larky: sprawling rakishly on the chaise longue.

The maid is a treasure indeed. As the only working woman, with no time for badinage or pointless erudition, she is refreshingly succinct. Dainty, homesick, prone to weeping, Scots Catherine wearily corrects her mistress, who persists in calling her 'Bridie' and fantasising about her impoverished Irish family. So here the Mametian deception lies in conferring a sham identity on someone else: it's the ultimate abuse of power, but it leaves Catherine unfazed.

This is the smallest role, but with the greatest development. Lyndsey Marshal carries off Catherine's transition from wistfulness to raunchy pragmatism with delicacy and aplomb. Anna and Claire are hothouse flowers: but, like Chekhov's servant-girls, Catherine will withstand the icy blast of change.

Cast:
Anna: Zoe Wanamaker
Claire: Anna Chancellor
Catherine: Lyndsey Marshall

Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Design: Peter McKintosh
Costumes: Tom Rand
Lighting: Rick Fisher
Music: Gary Yershon
Pianist: Jo Stewart

2001-12-14 21:05:57