Bitter Wheat - Garrick Theatre

Mamet has not been on form for a very long time. Hard pass.

Shenton defends mamet

I think Shenton is making the point, not unreasonably, that people should reserve final judgment until they have actually read the script or seen the play. One of the most vocal critics I've seen online is Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, whose play Emilia will be running at another Nimax venue. Has she actually read the script?

I totally get the fact that people, as @ryan articulates so well, have issues with the initial description of the play, the trailer etc, but should we not wait to see and hear what points Mamet actually has to make? And just because Mamet is a man, is he not entitled to write a play on this subject?

I get uneasy when people rush to condemn pieces of art without having the full facts. It reminds me of the recent furore over James Graham's Brexit drama for Channel 4.

I agree with Shenton, judging a work before it is seen is unfair to all involved but as I wrote in this blog based on the synopsis, based on Mamet's previous work I don't trust or expect him to write an appropriate play viewfromthecheapseat.com/2019/01/30/bitter-wheat-an-inappropriate-play-at-an-appropriate-time/

It is already being described as a "black comedy" and Mamet's politics don't suggest a sympathetic portrayal will happen but I look forward to him surprising me (if I even bother getting a ticket)

People say "you can't judge a book by its cover" but actually, to a point, you can. That's why books have covers. Without reading a book, you can't say for a fact that it's terrible and an absolute waste of time to read. But you can certainly pick up a book and see if it's an author you've enjoyed previously, if it's a genre that appeals to you, if there's affirmatory blurbs from trusted names. I don't know that this play is going to *suck*, per se, but I'm familiar with Mamet's works, I've read the blurb on the website, and I don't think anyone can hold it against me or the others like me who have consequently gone "WHOA, nope, this play is absolutely not for me". And there *is* information out there already, it's... kinda completely normal and even acceptable to look at this available information and conclude "well, I've obviously not seen or read it, but it does sound frightfully misjudged from what we have here"?

I mean, I'm a big fan of "don't knock it until you've tried it", and of course it would be fairest to see the play in question before casting final judgement, but it's hella unrealistic to expect people to abide by a strict binary of "if you've seen it, you can judge it, if you've not seen it, you can't hold any opinion whatsoever".

(And yeah, this play is absolutely not for me, so although it may yet turn out to be a great piece of theatre, I'm going to stay in Team "This Sounds Misjudged", and wait and see what teams the people who do see it end up in. And maybe I'll read it in the NT Bookshop one day between shows.)

No, that's cool, I don't take the internet personally.

I don't think we can fault the backlash though? As far as I can tell, no matter how loudly people are shouting, they are still fundamentally shouting "THIS SOUNDS MISJUDGED AND I DO NOT WANT TO SEE IT", I haven't seen any "THIS SHOULD BE BANNED AND WE ARE GOING TO PICKET THE THEATRE" just yet.

Like, a LOT of women have experienced sustained sexual harrassment (in fact, a useful thing to remember, when a woman appears to be overreacting to something, is that she is very rarely reacting to that one single instance, her reactions are based on a pile-up of experiences over time), it's pretty reasonable to feel exhausted and shouty about a couple of 70+ year old men who probably haven't experienced it for themselves (and who are in a similar demographic bracket to the perpetrators) standing up and casting out their own loud voices rather than stepping back and letting someone else tell the story.

(And yes, I KNOW, writers are going to write about things they haven't personally experienced, I'm not saying they *can't*, but there are writers out there who *are* able to tell these stories from a more personal perspective and they SO rarely get the opportunities afforded to... well, the 70+ year old men. When we eventually *have* equality, then no one will need to *ask* for equality anymore.)

Thanks for the info. Just booked a P7 seat for a Sat matinee in July. 

Ha ha ha ha ha

^
I agree, a very dumb strapline getting a deserved response.

I'm not sure what to make of the bulk of the above discussion. While my instincts tell me not to dive into pre-production judgements I'm inclined to agree that most of us will anyway, plus it's what we all do when deciding whether to see anything at all.

Don't know about the Edinburgh Fringe and the "point" of plays being dragged into it though!


"in a good mood"?

It seems they're deciding to disregard 2017's Call Me God, then. I mean, yes it was just a handful of performances in a church, but it still counts as "the stage" doesn't it?!

Full Company announced. Nothing interesting to add to the previously announced casting except Matthew Pidgeon is in it. Matthew also happens to be Mamet's brother in law.



Joining the previously announced John Malkovich as Barney Fein, Doon Mackichan as Sondra and Ioanna Kimbrook as Yung Kim Li are: Alexander Arnold as Roberto, Teddy Kempner as Doctor Wald, Matthew Pidgeon as The Writer and Zephryn Taitte as Charles Arthur Brown