OLEANNA by David Mamet, directed by Laszlo Marton (Soulpepper). At the Young Centre for the Performing Arts (55 Mill Street). To March 5. $28-$60. 416-866-8666. See listing. Rating: NNNN
It’s been nearly two decades since David Mamet‘s intelligent, vitriolic two-hander Oleanna premiered, and the intervening years haven’t stifled its ability to thrill and piss off in equal measure.
When panic-stricken student Carol (Sarah Wilson) installs herself in her professor’s skewed shoebox of an office, John (Diego Matamoros) submits to her helplessness, offering mentorship and an A grade. In the next two scenes, Carol re-emerges as a plaintiff, charging her prof with assorted violations: harassment, chauvinism and ultimately rape.
Don’t even try choosing sides in a relationship permeated by such sadistic intensity. Wilson’s Carol enters pallid as a mushroom, taking strength from her poison. With her initial note-taking and watchful silence, she seems in retrospect to have purposefully hidden the confidence that emerges in the second and third meetings.
In contrast, Matamoros’s trusting naivete dazzles in its hubris, drawing literal groans from the opening-night audience. Carol despises him for his smug attention, and Matamoros’s deceptively relaxed performance plays into that paternal self-delusion as he takes long strides around Teresa Przybylski‘s sandstone-hued office and addresses his (seemingly) vulnerable student in the dulcet tones of a guy who can’t get enough of his own voice.
The usually bubbly Wilson deserves kudos for suggesting Carol’s vengeful, repressed personality. Mamet’s examination of gender politics fascinates, but Carol’s systematic manipulation astonishes.
Laszlo Marton‘s focused direction gives the illusion of equilibrium even as the power continues to perilously shift. He shows how deftly Carol twists John’s words and actions to construct a drama to suit her ends.
In Mamet’s (and Wilson’s) hands, Carol becomes a kind of dramatist herself, creating a fictive version of John and directing him into that characterization. Even as she lies on the ground, look closely and you’ll see her mouth twitching with satisfaction over her work.
stage@nowtoronto.com
