Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Experimental but effective
By Marisa de Silva
As titles go, StageLight&Magic Inc.’s latest production David Mamet’s Oleanna is rather obscure. “Olean-na” apparently refers to a folk story about how a man named Ole and his wife Anna, bought acres of swampland and then sold it as farmland to many who were willing to invest all their savings on it. Once the money had been collected, the pair vanished and the buyers were left with worthless property. This became known as the “Oleanna Swindle.” For Mamet, higher education may be today’s “Oleanna Swindle.”

Apart from the issue of whether higher education is in fact effective, Mamet also speaks of sexual harassment; not in its conventional form, but rather he frames his story around a series of incidents that could be viewed as either completely innocent or not. Ultimately, perhaps the question in Oleanna is not whether sexual harassment has been committed, but exactly who is persecuting whom.

Actor, Ifaz Bin Jameel, making his directorial debut in Oleanna, reveals his ‘other (more serious) side.’ Over the recent past theatre-going audiences have mostly seen Ifaz in comic roles in plays like Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare and most recently in Elizabeth – Almost By Chance A Woman. However, he says that in the past, he has been a part of quite a few serious theatre productions and that his interest lies more in serious theatre.

Ifaz says that it has indeed been quite a challenge to direct a play of this calibre, especially as it is his first production and as he’s doing it solo. However Ifaz says that his load is much easier to bear, because he has two very talented actors to work with. Both, Swasha Perera who plays the role of Carol (a student) and Feroze Kamardeen as Professor John (her lecturer) and himself, did a lot of character and story analysis together, exchanging ideas and insights, he explains.

Furthermore, it’s also been quite a collaborative effort as Feroze (being a director himself) had given quite a bit of input into the direction. Ifaz also emphasises that he’s taking a minimalist approach to the making of this production. “I’m not using any special effects, theatrics and minimal props, as I intend to focus essentially on the dialogue and the plot,” he explains. Mamet’s gripping language, steady pace and very real life content, can usually stand its ground. “I just want to keep it simple and leave the plot and the actors/actresses to do their job,” adds Ifaz.

Even the initial decision to bring Oleanna to the local stage was a joint decision, as Feroze had read it some time ago and wanted to do it. “From a StageLight&Magic Inc.’s point of view, we’ve always wanted to do a little fringe theatre, so we tried to break away from the usual trends of serious theatre and experimented a lot with this production,” he says. However, in doing so, he wants to make as few changes to the script as possible and doesn’t want to take away from the core essence of the play, he says.
Produced by Leyon Rajaratne, Oleanna will go on the boards at the Punchi Theatre from September 23-25. The production of Oleanna is sponsored by Alankara and the official media partner is The Sunday Times. Entrance to the performances will be by invitation only.

Whichever side you take, you’re wrong
Oleanna takes place inside the office of John, a professor in a nameless university. He is visited by his student Carol, who seems to be struggling in his class and wants to find out about her progress.

The altercation between John and Carol is fraught with ironic, contradictory, and unacknowledged misapprehensions on both characters’ parts, which ultimately result in a grotesque re-enactment of stereotypical roles of men and women. The inarticulate Carol of the first act is the ironic beneficiary of the hard-fought battles by feminists for more extensive access to higher education for women.

John seems an ostensible liberal who scrutinises the academy from a self-styled “outsider,” perspective. John stands on the threshold of the very economic security for which Carol longs. John focuses primarily on ameliorating Carol’s emotional pain rather than her ignorance. Pedantic and self-satisfied, John smugly assures Carol that she can have her “A” for the term, if she will meet with him, so that he can answer her questions and raise her interest in the subject.

Whether one agrees with Mamet’s vision of gender relationships, or sees Oleanna as a cynical exploitation of a legitimate social concern, the play does raise a host of compelling questions: What constitutes sexual harassment? Whose interpretation of a word or an action is to be privileged, when interpretation itself is no longer grounded (if it ever was) in a linguistic and ethical commonality? Can or how can language remain a viable means of human interaction in a period of enormous social and economic flux? Can power be given away, yet retained? Does the exercise of power inevitably lead to abuses, no matter who controls the levers of authority? Are men and women doomed to remain adversaries forever, constantly battling for supremacy?

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