David Mamet Tackles Harvey Weinstein and ‘Ungovernable Genie of Sexuality’ in New Play
“There is great difficulty when you are switching modes, which we seem to be doing now,” right-leaning author says of his new project
Thom Geier | February 23, 2018 @ 7:40 AM
Last Updated: February 23, 2018 @ 8:14 AM
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David Mamet, the Pultizer-winning playwright whose hits include “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “American Buffalo,” has found a topical new subject for his next play: Harvey Weinstein.
“I was talking with my Broadway producer and he said, ‘Why don’t you write a play about Harvey Weinstein?’ And so I did,” Mamet said in a new interview with the Chicago Tribune.
“Every society has to confront the ungovernable genie of sexuality and tries various ways to deal with it and none of them work very well,” he told the paper. “There is great difficulty when you are switching modes, which we seem to be doing now. People go crazy. They start tearing each other to bits.”
It’s not clear if there are production plans for the new play — which the paper said was “sitting on the kitchen table” at his home in Santa Monica — or any further details about the project though it’s safe to say that he’s found a subject who shares his enthusiasm for foul-mouthed tirades.
Mamet has addressed the issue of sexual harassment before, most notably in the 1992 play “Oleanna,” in which a female student charges her university professor with sexual exploitation and derails his bid for tenure. (He later directed a film version starring William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt.)
The notably right-leaning author said that he had been thinking about the issue of sexual misconduct a lot since the Weinstein case exploded last fall and noted his connection to his grown-up daughters, including former “Girls” star Zosia Mamet.
“I think about this a lot now,” he said. “I have a bunch of daughters, a young son.”
Mamet’s longtime New York producer did not immediately respond to requests for comment about any production plans for the play.
10 Worst Theater Productions of 2017: From Michael Moore to 'Amelie' (Photos)
TheWrap theater critic Robert Hofler looks at the dregs of the year on stage.
10. "The Whirligig," by Hamish Linklater (Off Broadway)
Who's to blame for a young woman's impending death from drug addiction? Bigger question: Who talked such talented actors (Norbert Leo Butz, Zosia Mamet and Dolly Wells) into performing this script?
9. "Amelie," by Craig Lucas, Daniel Messe and Nathan Tysen (Broadway)
The movie's whimsical heroine turns into an insufferable annoyance on stage.
8. "Gently Down the Stream," by Martin Sherman (Off Broadway)
An old gay man (Harvey Fierstein) not only talks and talks about every atrocity suffered by the LGBT community. He has somehow been witness to them all in this pity party of a play.
7. "Office Hour," by Julia Cho (Off Broadway)
Playwrights' fixation on creating pathetic victims continues with this drama about a dreadful student who should have been flunked out of college long before he created so much trouble in the English department. You will side with Cho's villain.
6. "The End of Longing," by Matthew Perry (Off Broadway)
What begins as a sexy, trite sitcom turns into the kind of treacly Alcoholics Anonymous drama that populated the major networks before cable came to the rescue.
5. "The Penitent," by David Mamet (Off Broadway)
A shrink is accused of bigotry because he wrote about homosexuality being "an aberration." Once again, Mamet writes an argument, posing as a play, with a twist at the end.
4. "The Terms of My Surrender," by Michael Moore (Broadway)
Just because someone's against Trump doesn't make him talented. Moore's politics have never looked so benign and juvenile. And he can't ad lib, which is lethal for a show that invites audience participation.
3. "Anastasia," by Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Broadway)
Speaking of Trump, this is a musical perfectly suited to his family, who will find much to admire in this tribute to the excesses of the Romanoffs.
2. "The Portuguese Kid," by John Patrick Shanley (Off Broadway)
Two mismatched couples argue up a storm that's definitely all wet and rarely funny. Most awkward bit in the theater this year: Jason Alexander getting wood.
1. "The Play That Goes Wrong," by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields (Broadway)
Then again, nothing goes right in this forced comedy about a very bad production of a terrible play.
