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Romance
Pulitzer Prize—winning playwright David Mamet’s Romance is an uproarious, take-no-prisoners courtroom comedy that gleefully lampoons everyone from lawyers and judges, to Arabs and Jews, to gays and chiropractors.
It’s hay fever season, and in a courtroom a judge is popping antihistamines. He listens to the testimony of a Jewish chiropractor, who’s a liar, according to his anti-Semitic defense attorney. The prosecutor, a homosexual, is having a domestic squabble with his lover, who shows up in court in a leopard-print thong. And all the while, a Middle East peace conference is taking place. Masterfully wielding the argot of the courtroom, David Mamet creates a world in microcosm in which shameless fawning, petty prejudices, and sheer caprice hold sway, and the noble apparatus of law and order degenerates into riotous profanity.
It’s hay fever season, and in a courtroom a judge is popping antihistamines. He listens to the testimony of a Jewish chiropractor, who’s a liar, according to his anti-Semitic defense attorney. The prosecutor, a homosexual, is having a domestic squabble with his lover, who shows up in court in a leopard-print thong. And all the while, a Middle East peace conference is taking place. Masterfully wielding the argot of the courtroom, David Mamet creates a world in microcosm in which shameless fawning, petty prejudices, and sheer caprice hold sway, and the noble apparatus of law and order degenerates into riotous profanity.
118 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
About the author
David Mamet
200 books701 followersDavid Alan Mamet is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for his exploration of masculinity.
As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).
Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.
As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).
Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 10, 2023
I don't mind offensive humor, but it has to be, you know ... funny. Maybe it's better onstage?
March 8, 2018
Too silly for words,I am going to buy a bunch of these and leave them in the safe places at the local universities.
December 19, 2021
A farce on people’s hatred of the other. That focus explains why abuse/stereotypes drive the humor.
March 19, 2010
After seeing the play at the Taper in '05 (with the fabulous Ed Begley, Jr.) I had to read this and figure out the mind in which these characters came from. Mamet is a pure genius (um hello?! Glengarry Glen Ross!!). All I can say (without giving anything away) is that the entire comedy takes place in a court room, involving racial slurs, perhaps some drug use, an insane misuse of justice, but apparently a resolution for the middle east peace process. Who knew it was that easy!?!
It's amazing. Read it. Then if you never get an opportunity to see it performed live, make a puppet show yourself and just do it. It is one of his best. It proves Mamet will stand the test of time with literary works of art just as beautifully as Tennessee Williams did.
It's amazing. Read it. Then if you never get an opportunity to see it performed live, make a puppet show yourself and just do it. It is one of his best. It proves Mamet will stand the test of time with literary works of art just as beautifully as Tennessee Williams did.
May 31, 2012
although it's been well acknowledged that the best drama is more fully realized upon the stage as opposed to on the page, mamet's plays reiterate this point greatly. driven by his trademark stylized dialogue, romance is surely more engaging and hilarious when performed live. this farcical, fast-paced, and provocative play takes aim at so many common taboos and prejudices: religion, homosexuality, the middle east peace process, domestic relationships, and the notion of justice. moments of unadulterated absurdity, irrational characters, and an abundance of profanity lend romance its distinctively mametian allure. certainly not for the puritanical or humorless.
April 26, 2022
Pretty boring, a few good jokes, lazy writing for the most part.
February 9, 2018
Hilarious, blistering social commentary regarding the hidden, inner lives of seemingly ordinary people. David Mamet is the Seth McFarland or Matt Stone of the theatre world-not afraid to piss off or offend anyone in the name of comedy....this particular play deals with “peace”-peace at home, peace of mind and most importantly Peace in the Middle East! The message is clear-if we could all “realign ourselves” and stop to recognize that imbalance in our lives exist more in our minds, then we’d all get along much better.
July 30, 2014
Mamet might be trying to say something here, but it gets garbled in his wanking dialogue. A lot of talking and not a lot of stuff happening. Some of it is funny. Some of it is superficially caustic. Some of it is painfully unfunny.
May 23, 2021
I love a farce, but Mamet leans heavily (as per usual) on not just stereotypes, but name-calling,in lieu of character development. This could have been lovely if it didn't devolve that way, as the core story of "Bunny" wasn't bad or particularly stereotype-bound.
August 23, 2016
funny play bit dated
November 14, 2022
David Mamet's play Romance is very funny. It's also, in its way, very pointed. But it's not especially probing, or deep; at an hour and a half (including an intermission), it feels too long, like a really sharp 20-minute sketch stretched way, way out.
It centers on a Judge who is supposed to be presiding over a trial, the exact nature of which is never disclosed (nor does it need to be). But he's suffering from hay fever and his medication isn't working right; he keeps taking pills even though the Bailiff tells him he doesn't need any more. The pills distract him on the first day of the trial, which he interrupts suddenly to make an observation about the prospects for peace in the Middle East. Different pills make him giddy on the second day of the trial, leading him to ask a number of impertinent questions on the order of "Was Shakespeare a fag?," to make some disturbing allusions to having abused children and dallied with the Bailiff on Ibiza, and to eventually lose his pants. (Romance is a farce; he's not the only one.)
He's emblematic of what I think Mamet's is trying to tell us: that the System (not only the justice system specifically, but the whole American polity in general) is badly broken, haywire, on its ear (or another body part that I am too polite to mention; though Mamet, being Mamet, is not). Is there resonance in a courtroom comedy that makes an unextraordinary proceeding into a travesty and a circus? You bet.
The other characters in Romance twit expectations as well. A buttoned-down prosecutor is having a turbulent affair with an effeminate gay boy who cooks, apparently, wearing just a skimpy thong and an apron. A Christian defense attorney gets into a nasty name-calling match with his Jewish client. The point of all of this shouting is, I guess, more of the same: we can't get along, our infrastructure is crumbling, our national psyche is heading toward meltdown.
In any event, the nastiness and the anarchy--very much a Marx Brothers meets Monty Python atmosphere--gets tiresome rather quickly; my interest in what was going on fizzled out a good 15 or 20 minutes before the play finally ended. It's taut, tough, and Mametian; but it's too slight to make for a satisfying afternoon or evening of theater.
It centers on a Judge who is supposed to be presiding over a trial, the exact nature of which is never disclosed (nor does it need to be). But he's suffering from hay fever and his medication isn't working right; he keeps taking pills even though the Bailiff tells him he doesn't need any more. The pills distract him on the first day of the trial, which he interrupts suddenly to make an observation about the prospects for peace in the Middle East. Different pills make him giddy on the second day of the trial, leading him to ask a number of impertinent questions on the order of "Was Shakespeare a fag?," to make some disturbing allusions to having abused children and dallied with the Bailiff on Ibiza, and to eventually lose his pants. (Romance is a farce; he's not the only one.)
He's emblematic of what I think Mamet's is trying to tell us: that the System (not only the justice system specifically, but the whole American polity in general) is badly broken, haywire, on its ear (or another body part that I am too polite to mention; though Mamet, being Mamet, is not). Is there resonance in a courtroom comedy that makes an unextraordinary proceeding into a travesty and a circus? You bet.
The other characters in Romance twit expectations as well. A buttoned-down prosecutor is having a turbulent affair with an effeminate gay boy who cooks, apparently, wearing just a skimpy thong and an apron. A Christian defense attorney gets into a nasty name-calling match with his Jewish client. The point of all of this shouting is, I guess, more of the same: we can't get along, our infrastructure is crumbling, our national psyche is heading toward meltdown.
In any event, the nastiness and the anarchy--very much a Marx Brothers meets Monty Python atmosphere--gets tiresome rather quickly; my interest in what was going on fizzled out a good 15 or 20 minutes before the play finally ended. It's taut, tough, and Mametian; but it's too slight to make for a satisfying afternoon or evening of theater.
December 5, 2020
Interesting premise for a farce. A trial we don't initially understand the purpose of. There aren't the usual twists and turns so much as elaborate details which come out sporadically and farcical characters. Definitely some cracking lines of dialogue that had me laughing. Very much in line with his witty Mamet speak. Good use of repetition for humour too. Sort of reminds me of Anthony Neilson's Dissocia, where its very funny at times but feels like it might be slightly less than the sum of its parts. Don't get me wrong, I love Dissocia, but, like this, it can feel like it's going for a certain tone over a satisfyingly cohesive structure at times. Still, this play is worth reading if you're a fan of Mamet or farce. It would definitely be entertaining to watch, but I don't think anyone would call it a favourite.
April 13, 2023
David Mamet has written some great plays, and I do like farcical theatre - the likes of Dario Fo, but this chaotic courtroom social satire on the nature of hate - Jews opposing gentiles, straights opposing gays - felt like trying to put square pegs in round holes - Mamet and farce just didn't seem like the right fit to me. Going by this play anyway. One or two laughs here and there on behalf of the Judge but generally its just a lazy effort filled with under par dialogue.
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August 24, 2023For a comedic play, it's largely devoid of humor. Picks up a little at the midpoint with some good jokes but other than that, I found this a bit disappointing.
This was my first time reading David Mamet. Gonna dive into his other works, hopefully with better luck.
This was my first time reading David Mamet. Gonna dive into his other works, hopefully with better luck.
February 26, 2019
Madness in a courtroom. Probably not stageable today
June 8, 2020
Tough start but it's fun irreverent intellectual fodder.
August 25, 2020
Not top-shelf Mamet, but one great scene and some good ones.
July 30, 2021
Silly more than humorous.
February 5, 2009
We read a scene from this in writing class and it was pretty funny, so I decided to borrow the play from my pal Lauren. Unfortunately when I took it home and read the rest of the play it wasn't nearly as funny. It was about this point that I realized Mamet is no fun to read, but fun to watch/listen to.
The characters in this play were such charactures of themselves that I didn't really feel for anyone. On the Mament language scale this gets about an 8 because most of the arguments start out as petty things and quickly escalate to racism with plenty of f-bombs sprinkled in for good measure. I can see the funny moments but they did not come through when I was just reading them off the page.
The characters in this play were such charactures of themselves that I didn't really feel for anyone. On the Mament language scale this gets about an 8 because most of the arguments start out as petty things and quickly escalate to racism with plenty of f-bombs sprinkled in for good measure. I can see the funny moments but they did not come through when I was just reading them off the page.
March 29, 2009
Funny. One of my favorite playwrights (Mamet) writing in one of my least favorite genres (farce). There is no small amount of commentary in this play, however, regarding the protocols surrounding the Mid-East peace process, which serves as a sort of backdrop for the courtroom proceedings. And connecting the title to the play takes a little work.
July 15, 2008
saw this in chicago in 2007, and immediately got a copy to read. lampoons nearly every sacred cow in that oh so special mamet way.
April 1, 2010
A courtroom farce so over-the-top and offensive that it just didn't strike me as funny. Maybe you need to see it performed? Mamet's done much better.
June 10, 2010
Mamet's most awkward play e'er I read, but the religious satire is too delicious to cast aside.
February 20, 2012
Note to self: No plays via audio book. I'll need to read this one or see it live to figure out how much I actually like it.
July 16, 2012
Just finished reading and listening to actually. It plays better with great actors, funny and mind numbing at best...l
March 5, 2013
dffvdv
December 15, 2015
This might be funny staged. Read? Eh. It's alright. It's not the powerful Mamet I was expecting.
December 27, 2015
I laughed a couple times, but overall this play just didn't do anything for me.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews