Oleanna is one of those plays which could likely get banned from certain spaces on account of its sheer nuance. And given that nuance has these days been put on the IUCN List of Endangered Species, it brings me great joy to see plays like this still being produced. An open-ended message hidden behind layers of mystery, upon which one actually requires concentrated thought to base an opinion, is bound to be unpopular for many; and for that reason, I cannot but respect Charlie Lewis for directing such a fearless rendition of David Mamet’s 1992 classic.
The story follows the increasing tension between a student, Carol (played by Laura Boyd), and her university (sorry, college) professor, John (played by Alec Greene), over the course of three meetings. Given that it is a two-person play, I feel that Boyd and Greene should be the main recipients of my scrutiny; and so, let us begin with Greene. His charisma was astonishing, keeping me hooked to his performance even at John’s worst moments, and pairing well with Boyd to bring out the character’s concurrent charm and creepiness. What’s more, he did so whilst utterly convincing me that he was a middle-aged man. (And no thanks to the makeup department – that dusting of grey in his hair was pathetic.) He showed impressive range, too, gradually losing his composure over the course of the play, and becoming rather terrifying by the end.
And as for Boyd, she nailed the part of the nervous victim. Her instability was contagious, and even had me gasping for air a little during the first scene. My only issue with her performance is that it was a little one-note: no matter the occasion, she seemed to be concurrently scowling and hyperventilating. It worked at first but became grating over time, and also seemed somewhat out of place in the scenes where the power swings in her favour. By the end of the play, Carol is flaunting her power, which comes across strangely if she looks terrified. But on the other hand, one might argue that this delivery preserves the nuance of these scenes, allowing the audience to persist in their view of her as a victim should they choose to. Whether or not her slightly frustrating performance was intentional, and whether the aim of a play should be to preserve its nuance versus entertain the viewer, is up for debate. At the end of the day, one thing is certain: I will remember her performance, and probably even more than Greene’s. She made me reflect on Carol as a character, and all the while deeply aggravating me.
The only main issue with this production is its truly abominable staging. John and Carol seemed to be in a competition for who could show more of the audience their back, and frankly, I think they both won. As a fortunate resident of the centre front row, I got the full experience, but my friend who sat in one of the right-hand seats said that she could never see both characters’ faces at once. And compelling as it may be to see the back of Greene’s shirt, the audience in the left and right wings paid considerably more for tickets than I did (mine cost me a crisp £0.00) and deserved the same experience I had. I will sympathise, however, that the New College Long Room is a pretty crap place to stage a play.
To wrap up my review, I will end on a high. The stage combat was brutal and effective, and left me legitimately winded as I walked out of the show. Besides two silent kicks, which fell flat, the headbanging and choking were both terrifying to witness, especially from my front row seat (I did not feel so fortunate for my position as John throttled Carol a mere few inches from my face). The performances and direction ended the play with a bang, and had me thinking about it for the entire ensuing day.
Boulevard Productions’ Oleanna leaves something to be desired, but what it lacks in production value it more than compensates for in audacity; so much so that David Mamet would be proud, had he not completely lost his mind in recent years (see his article: ‘Why Charlie Kirk was a modern prophet’).
