Romance (play)

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Romance is a play by David Mamet. It premiered Off-Broadway in 2005 and also ran in London.

David Mamet American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director

David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). He first gained critical acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway 70s plays: The Duck Variations,Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. His plays Race and The Penitent, respectively, opened on Broadway in 2009 and previewed off-Broadway in 2017.

An Off-Broadway theatre is any professional venue in Manhattan in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100.

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Productions

Gable Stage 2007 Joe Kimble, Davit Kwiat and Matthew Glass.jpg
Gable Stage 2007

Romance opened Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company on March 1, 2005 and closed on May 1, 2005. [1] Directed by Neil Pepe, the cast included Bob Balaban (The Prosecutor), Larry Bryggman (The Judge), and Keith Nobbs (Bernard). [1] The play received a nomination for the Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Lead Actor (Bryggman), and nominations for the Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Play and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Bryggman). [1]

Atlantic Theater Company

Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their acting students from New York University, inspired by the historical examples of the Group Theatre and Stanislavski. Atlantic believes that the story of a play and the intent of its playwright are at the core of the creative process.

Bob Balaban American actor, author, producer, and director

Robert Elmer Balaban is an American actor, author, producer, and director. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for Gosford Park (2001), in which he also appeared. Balaban's other film roles include the drama Midnight Cowboy (1969), science fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Altered States (1980), the Christopher Guest comedies Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006), the dark fantasy film Lady in the Water (2006), and the Wes Anderson films Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018).

Arvid Laurence "Larry" Bryggman is an American actor.

The play was also performed at London's Almeida Theatre, starring John Mahoney as the Judge, in September 2005. [2]

London Capital of the United Kingdom

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

John Mahoney American actor

Charles John Mahoney was an English-born American actor of stage, film, and television.

The play has had regional productions at the Goodman Theatre Chicago in 2006, [3] The play had its Southeastern American premiere at Gablestage at the Biltmore, in Miami Florida, December 30 – January 28, 2007. The Prosecutor: Joe Kimble Cast featured The Defendant: Antonio Amadeo The Defense Attorney: Bill Schwartz, The Judge: David Kwiat, The Bailiff: Brandon Morrison, Bernard(Bunz): Matthew Glass, The Doctor: Paul Tei Director: Joseph Adler Set Design: Lyle BaskinLighting Design: Jeff QuinnMusic/Sound: Matt CoreyCostumes: Ellis TillmanProps: Claire SavittTechnical Director: Carlos RodriguezStage Manager: Michael John Carroll. <http://www.miaminewtimes.com/best-of/2007/people-and-places/best-supporting-actor-6401368> at the American Repertory Theatre, Boston in 2009 [4] and at the Bay Street Theater, Sag Harbor, New York in 2010 with Richard Kind as the Judge. [5]

Goodman Theatre theatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the landmark Harris and Selwyn Theaters property.

Sag Harbor, New York Village in New York, United States

Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of East Hampton and Southampton. The population was 2,169 at the 2010 census.

Richard Kind American actor

Richard Bruce Kind is an American actor and voice actor, known for his roles in the sitcoms Mad About You and Spin City. He also does voice performances in various Pixar films such as, A Bug's Life, the Cars series, Toy Story 3, and Inside Out.

The play had its Southeastern American premiere at Gablestage at the Biltmore, in Miami Florida, December 30 – January 28, 2007. The Prosecutor: JOE KIMBLE Cast featured The Defendant: Antonio Amadeo The Defense Attorney: Bill Schwartz, The Judge: David Kwiat, The Bailiff: Brandon Morrison, Bernard(Bunz): Matthew Glass, The Doctor: Paul Tei Director: Joseph Adler Set Design: Lyle BaskinLighting Design: Jeff QuinnMusic/Sound: Matt CoreyCostumes: Ellis TillmanProps: Claire SavittTechnical Director: Carlos RodriguezStage Manager: Michael John Carroll. <http://www.miaminewtimes.com/best-of/2007/people-and-places/best-supporting-actor-6401368>


December 30 – January 28, 2007

Synopsis

A courtroom is presided over by The Judge, whose allergy medications make him so drowsy he repeatedly falls asleep. Later, he becomes so manic he eventually ends up stripping in the middle of the court. Meanwhile, The Prosecutor has to deal with his flamboyant and often difficult-to-control boyfriend Bernard, nick-named Bunny. Bunny unexpectedly comes to the court room, "bringing out the inner Queer Guy in the Judge and his Bailiff. [6] The gentile Defense Attorney is swapping racial slurs with his Jewish client, The Defendant. The Defendant suddenly comes up with a brilliant idea to solve all the problems in the Middle East.

Courtroom enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court

A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms, which may also be known as "courts", may be housed in a courthouse.

Allergy immune system response to a substance that most people tolerate well

Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are a number of conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermatitis, allergic asthma, and anaphylaxis. Symptoms may include red eyes, an itchy rash, sneezing, a runny nose, shortness of breath, or swelling. Food intolerances and food poisoning are separate conditions.

Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression together with lability of affect." Although mania is often conceived as a "mirror image" to depression, the heightened mood can be either euphoric or irritable; indeed, as the mania intensifies, irritability can be more pronounced and result in violence, or anxiety.

Note: only Bernard has a given name

Critical response

Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times wrote:"In 'Romance,' the latest work from this most imitated and parodied of living American playwrights, Mr. Mamet knocks the four-letter stuffing out of his own staccato style. He then proceeds to beat up on classic farce, ethnic and sexual stereotypes and, it might be argued, his audience. It's a take-no-prisoners approach that, unfortunately, doesn't capture laughs either." [6]

The CurtainUp reviewer wrote:"The whole idea for Mr. Mamet's main intent (besides his obvious intent to have fun and entertain) is to use a zany trial of a case that remains purposefully vague as a launch pad to skewer everything from our justice system to politics, homosexuality, pedophile priests and religious prejudice.... The Atlantic Theater's artistic director Neil Pepe keeps the screwball elements bouncing along with laugh a minute momentum and the cast fully captures the madcap spirit." [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 " 'Romance' Listing" Internet Off-Broadway Database, accessed June 18, 2012
  2. ↑ "'Romance' at the Almeida Theatre, Review Summary" londontheatre.co.uk, accessed June 18, 2012
  3. ↑ "'Romance' Listing, Goodman Theatre" theatermania.com, accessed June 18, 2012
  4. ↑ "'Romance' by David Mamet" artsboston.org, accessed June 18, 2012
  5. ↑ Jacobson, Aileen. "Disorder in the Court, From the Mind of Mamet" The New York Times, August 20, 2010
  6. 1 2 Brantley, Ben. "All Rise, Mamet's Court Is in Session and Unraveling" The New York Times, March 2, 2005
  7. ↑ Sommer, Elyse. "A CurtainUp Review.'Romance' curtainup.com, March 2, 2005
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