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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"WE Are Godzilla", June 10, 2008
David Mamet's hilarious courtroom comedy takes as its premise that nobody's sacred and nothing's sacred, at least in our politically correct current society. His characters include, among others, a gay prosecuting attorney, a defendant who's an anti-Christian Jewish chiropractor, his own anti-semitic defense attorney, and a judge high on antihistamines. Taking place in the city outside the courtroom is a shallow Peace Conference called to resolve Arab/Israeli conflict in the Middle East. The key question at the comedy's heart and put to the squabbling people in the courtroom is, "How can you have peace in the Middle East when you can't have peace in your home?" The judge dreams or remembers a film featuring "a clean land untroubled by pollution. Untouched by strife. With liberty and compassion for all its citizens." This utopian land is then destroyed by a Godzilla like lizard. Within the comedy, the human squabblers in the courtroom -i.e. all the characters - are their own Godzillas and render any scheme for the universal improvement of mankind
illusory. Mamet's vision here is Aristophanic or Swiftian; satirically observing its representatives in the play, he refuses to romanticize the damned human race.
The vivacity of the comedy springs by and large from its verbal brilliance, specifically through the speed and accuracy with which the characters go for each other's jugulars. One late entering character, for example, who is an actual M.D. goes after the chiropractor, addressing him as a thing rather than a person, asking "Is it mad because it didn't get into medical school...?" Not to be outdone, the chiropractor naturally begins to physically strangle the doctor, while getting in as the last word, "Cure cancer you arrogant f***!" Peace in the Middle East? Yeah, right!
The old canard that used to be routinely applied to Chekhov's plays, that they were plotless, is fairly often applied with equal injustice to Mamet's these days. If one peers an inch beneath the surface of the four scenes of "Romance," it's hard not to be struck by the increasing revelations that emerge from each of the skillfully placed encounters between the characters. Under the surface of apparent disorder and frenzy, something starts, grows, and comes to a satisfying resolution. If this isn't adroit plot construction, I have no idea what else it could be.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mamet Has Fun, September 1, 2006
This review is from: Romance (Paperback)
As a reviewer for Daily Variety for seven years, I came to enjoy the characters, ideas, and theatricality of David Mamet's plays that I saw and judged. I became a fan. As I came to write my own plays, I saw intimately that the root of character is through what they DO, yet the stage is made up mostly of what people say. Mamet is often praised for his dialogue, but his plays are active--his characters do things, including swearing, cheating, conniving, dreaming, and scheming. If you're an aspiring playwright or simply a fan of theatre, READ one of his plays and see how few stage directions he gives and how often the dialogue is interrupted, yet you get a strong picture of what's happening. Notice how much his characters do. Feel the subtext that emerges. His dramas are often known for their tension. "Romance," a comedy, you might expect to be far different, but there's still plenty of tension. All his dramas have humor, and here there's just more--delightfully more. When I saw "Romance" at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, I laughed a lot and guessed how much fun he surely had writing it. There's even a spot where a character parodies Mamet's love for the F word--absolutely hilarious. At first I thought of "Romance" as Mamet Lite, but the play stayed with me, and I bought it to read. In it, he pushes the envelope of hyperbole and soars. Consider, too, what the title means to what you experience in the play. There's plenty to chew on.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, Funny Mamet, July 8, 2009
This review is from: Romance (Paperback)
Mamet is one of my five favorite dialogue playwrights. (Mamet, Sorkin, JHHK, Whedon, QT) And this play is one of my favorite Mamet plays. I bought this and Redbelt. If you've never heard of David Mamet, I don't think you will be reading this review. I own every play and movie Mamet ever wrote. And I put this amoung his funniest.
If I was still in college, I would direct this. I directed Speed-The-Plow, American Buffalo, The Woods, and Oh Hell, all within two years. And I wish Romance would have been out back then. If you're on the fence, try it!
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