David Mamet’s “Oleanna,” now playing at the Mark Taper Forum, offers an unexpected development that makes up for a particularly boring first act. Although presented without an intermission, the three segments are defined by the raising and lowering of the window in the office of a university professor.
The set is rather clever with the campus buildings seen outside the windows.
It is difficult to describe the action without giving away the surprise that Mamet has in store as he explores the relationship between teacher and student, the misconceptions that can arise from a simple dialogue and the current transfer of power from men to women.
This is a two-person show with well-known actors. However, their acting was particularly annoying. Bill Pullman as the professor stutters and stammers and gesticulates incessantly. Julia Stiles can’t quite cut it, first as a confused freshman and then as a sophisticated upper-class person.
Mamet sets up his premise with rather pedantic expostulations delivered by the two protagonists. He pads what could have been a two-act play with an incessant number of phone calls relating to the professor’s plans to buy a new home. Pullman’s hemming and hawing on the phone is so irritating, a call from a telemarketer would be more welcome.
It’s a shame that a clever premise falls short of its promise. The professor’s ambition to obtain tenure and thereby afford a new home is shattered by a senseless prosecution. The expression “Everything you say will be held against you” applies aptly to “Oleanna.”