Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
BroadwayDreams2
Understudy Joined: 7/4/04
#0Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Posted: 3/27/05 at 11:46amI am looking for a contemporary realistic play from which to get a monologue. Would Oleanna fit that category? I havent read the play but I know a monologue from it that I already have memorized. If not, can anyone give me ideas for a good monologue?
#1re: Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Posted: 3/27/05 at 12:46pm
I'm pretty sure it will be ok.
Go buy the play, it is very good. Mamet is one of my favorite playwrights.
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
#2re: Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Posted: 3/27/05 at 12:52pm
I didn't really like the play. Yes, its contemporary and real. I believe William H. Macy starred in the play's debut on Broadway.
Read the play. Don't ever do a monologue and not read the play it is from.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#3re: Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Posted: 3/27/05 at 1:07pmOLEANNA is brilliant. It is one of Mamet's most interesting works. It has great monologues for both male and female characters.
#4re: Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Posted: 3/27/05 at 1:13pm
I agree w/ capn...you MUST read the play to have even the slightest idea of a character, then you must develop it further.
aww I LOVED oleanna. Mamet, imo, is a literary genius.
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
#5re: Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Posted: 3/27/05 at 1:15pmI'm a huge Mamet fan, but he has really struck out on his two most recent attempts (BOSTON MARRIAGE and ROMANCE). Both were laughably horrible. In my humble opinion, his finest work was THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#6re: Is Oleanna contemporary and realistic?
Posted: 3/27/05 at 3:21pm
I love Oleanna. It was my through-line last year for school. There are some really great monologues in it. I know you already have it memorized, but just MAKE SURE that you ABSOLUTELY do it the way Mamet has written it to be done. I was being a reader at an audition awhile ago and the director knew a lot of Mamet and someone came in with a Carol monologue and the director afterwards just crossed her off his list because he could tell from hearing her that she had ignored every rhythmatic direction Mamet had laid down, and he thought if she couldn't take direction from the text itself, how could she take direction from an outside person? I don't know. Anyway, Oleanna is contemporary, realistic but you should definitely read the play before performing the piece.
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