Oleanna

By David Mamet

Ustinov Studio

Theatre Royal, Bath

Until December 22 and from January 4-16

The inherent flaws in political correctness are the underlying warning in David Mamet’s disturbing drama.

It can also be seen as an exercise in how to manipulate words and actions by taking them out of context and rendering them capable of an altogether more sinister interpretation.

Jonathan Slinger and Rosie Sheehy play this double-hander with great skill. They build tension from an innocuous, if slightly uncomfortable, opening conversation to an explosive denouement over 80 minutes.

Mamet’s dialogue is a tad irritating as the two characters, teacher John (Slinger) and student Carol (Sheehy) frequently don’t allow one another to finish a sentence.

Carol is a student struggling with the syllabus and John clearly wants to help her shake off her sense of inadequacy and succeed. She alternates between blaming herself for being stupid and blaming him for being a poor teacher.

His attempts at kindness and reassurance are received with suspicion and hostility, which are then compounded by accusations from Carol to the college authorities. These threaten his job and the new home he and his wife were hoping to buy on the back of an expected job promotion.

Although the play was first produced in 1992 it resonates strongly with the Me-too generation of complainants. Carol becomes part of a movement not because she has genuine grievances but because the movement uses her discontent for its own ends.

It is a disturbing demonstration of the power of innuendo and lying by omission.

Jo Bayne