Boston Marriage for Adelaide
In 1999 Pulitzer prize-winning playwright David Mamet conquered new territory with Boston Marriage, a provocative comedy about intimacy and conflict between two women.
Adelaide is in for a treat, because Butterfly Theatre, in conjunction with Burnside Players, will present Boston Marriage as part of the November Feast Festival.
Festival audiences have a lot to look forward to. The New York Post described Boston Marriage as “Brilliant…One of Mamet’s most satisfying and accomplished plays, and one of the funniest American comedies in years’’.
Set at the turn of the 20th century, but placed in the ‘now’ through the use of contemporary language, Boston Marriage tells the story of Anna and Claire, two bantering and scheming women of fashion who have long lived together on the fringes of upper class Boston society.
Mix in a wealthy male lover, female to female infatuation, an enormous and valuable emerald, plus a hapless Scottish parlor maid, and the seeds are planted for a wickedly funny comedy.
Mamet brings his signature cynical, edgy dialogue to Boston Marriage, along with impeccable plotting. The Boston Globe said of the play, “(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, Edward Albee, or Mamet himself.”
Butterfly Theatre’s production is directed by Geoff Brittain, whose work is well known to Adelaide’s theatre enthusiasts.
The all- female cast features Cheryl Douglas, Bronwyn Ruciak and Genevieve Williamson.
Full of double entendre, nuance, assignation and wickedly tart dialogue, Boston Marriage is sure to delight Feast Festival audiences.
Lesley Reed
Bookings: www.feast.org.au
Dates: November 13, 14, 19, 20, 8pm.
Venue: The Wheatsheaf Hotel, 39 George Street, Thebarton.
Tickets: $15-20.
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