Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet’s powerful and searingly topical play Oleanna will be presented at the Fugard in September.
Starring award-winning actor and comedian Alan Committie (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Love Factually, Defending the Caveman) as John, opposite actress and TV star Nicole Fortuin (SABC 3’s RoerJouVoete, Generations – The Legacy, Swartwater, and Warner Bros’ A Cinderella Story: If The Shoe Fits) as Carol, this hard-hitting two-hander will be presented in the Fugard Studio Theatre for a strictly limited season from 14 September 2018.
Oleanna at the Fugard
Oleanna is directed by the Fugard Theatre’s Resident Director Greg Karvellas (Shakespeare in Love, Significant Other, The Road to Mecca, The Father, Clybourne Park, Bad Jews, Champ).
In Oleanna, a female college student engages with her male professor in a heated discussion about his lesson content and teaching style. The relationship of a somewhat pedantic teacher and his student quickly turns into a fiendishly acute x-ray of the mechanisms of status, censorship, abuse and a charge of sexual harassment. It examines the explosive and relevant contemporary issues of the assumption of power, intellectual freedom and sexual politics against the background of academic, institutional and structural inequality.
This volatile drama will ignite discussion and debate. Did a crime take place? Is Carol’s eventual charge the only way of regaining power over John? Is the truth even relevant after such an accusation?
Set Design is by Chris Pienaar, Costume Design by Birrie le Roux and Lighting Design by Luke Ellenbogen.
Comments about international productions of the play have included Pulitzer Prize winning critic Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times noting, “Experiencing David Mamet’s play Oleanna on the stage was one of the most stimulating experiences I’ve had in a theatre.” Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, who directed the London premiere production, commented, “There can be no tougher or more unflinching play than Oleanna,” and legendary theatre critic Frank Rich writing in The New York Times said “Oleanna is likely to provoke more arguments than any play this year”.
What: Oleanna
Where and when: Fugard Theatre from 14 September 2018
Book: 021 461 4554 or online at www.thefugard.com
Note: Oleanna carries an age restriction of 16 for mature content and violence. Themes and content of sexual harassment and violence against women are prevalent at certain times in the play. These could be triggering to some audience members. If you would like more information about the content of this production please contact us on info@thefugard.com
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