Mathilde Dratwa on New Play Confronting David Mamet, Harvey Weinstein
Posted: 7/19/25 at 9:40am
I read this play all the way back in 2021, and I was initially pretty ride or die for it, but as the years have gone by, I've started to feel that it's a little gross in the way it depicts and portrays Mamet. You can dislike Mamet's work or his politics (certainly his politics), but this play goes a step too far when it's comparing Harvey Weinstein, a man who is currently in prison for decades of predatory sexual assault, with David Mamet, a man who has been in the public eye for half a century and has racked up exactly zero harrassment/assault allegations, zero cheating scandals, and zero women sharing negative experiences after directly working with him. The worst thing David Mamet ever did to Mathilde Dratwa is write plays that she chose to read/watch and then didn't like. That doesn't normally earn you an entire play criticizing your life and work.
Posted: 7/19/25 at 9:41am
very powerful idea
Posted: 7/20/25 at 9:48am
As someone who detests David Mamet and his politics, yet believes Glengarry Glen Ross is one of the greatest of American plays, I don't know what to think about the ideas and the reasonings behind her work without seeing or reading it. But it sounds like it might be pulling Mamet into the Me Too movement, which is not something he has ever been ensconced. Unless it's, maybe, marrying one of his students...?
Updated On: 7/20/25 at 09:48 AM
Posted: 7/20/25 at 2:37pm
Wow, what intellectually lazy, low-hanging fruit. I'm old enough to remember when playwrights were ahead of the curve.
"Two of my other plays have had productions, and the third one is having a workshop production. And so this is the last of the four that I’ve written, and it’s just interesting to me that that’s the one that hasn’t received that kind of attention yet."
Maybe because you're not entitled to that kind of attention? She sounds insufferable.
Updated On: 7/20/25 at 02:37 PM
Posted: 7/20/25 at 4:43pm
I wonder if the reason we're getting this reading is because the producers saw the success of John Proctor Is The Villain, and wanted to ride the bandwagon of "plays-about-other-plays".
The problem is that John Proctor isn't so much about The Crucible as it is about rape culture and the way we teach literature in an academic setting. Mamet/Weinstein is, first and foremost, a direct indictment of Mamet and his artistry. For God's sake, there's literally a scene in the first 10 minutes where the main character beats Mamet to death with one of his Obie awards (which she envisions as an Oscars-esque statuette, since Obies are framed certificates).
Posted: 7/20/25 at 7:30pm
Mamet is the most produced living playwright on Broadway and it’s not even close. I think it’s totally fertile ground to explore the industry and culture that has been propping him up in the last twenty years, even as his modern work has generally been poorly received by audiences and critics alike- particularly when his outspoken MAGA opinions have been frequently swept under the rug.
