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grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn iHBnEl llout--has-top-borr set-embedd-le" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Arliss Howard and Mary McCann as psychic and client Mamets “The Shawl.”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Arliss Howard and Mary McCann as psychic and client Mamet’s “The Shawl.”</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Illtratn by Ellie Forman-Peck</span></div></figure></div><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">Illns generated a lot of talk postwar Amerin theatre. The tth is that no amount of realy uld pete wh the Holot. So there was a turng ward. In 1947, Tennsee Williams’s Blanche DuBois told dienc that she wanted not realism but “magic,” and that emotnal honty wasn’t necsarily synonymo wh the tth. Six years later, Arthur Miller’s “The Ccible,” a play spired by the hysteria of the McCarthy era, a young girl’s fears and nros turned realy to fantasy, a weapon of spicn and dread. When Mart Crowley’s “The Boys the Band” opened Off Broadway, 1968, raised the curta on certa aspects of gay male life, but also showed that self-acceptance was still an illn for gay people, who had spent too long stgglg to breathe the swamps of hatred and self-hatred.</p><p class="paywall">Sce the neteen-seventi, David Mamet has been wrg edi and dramas which illn is ls a subject than a qualy of speech and character. Raised Chigo durg the Cold War, Mamet was still a young man when Saigon fell, 1975. He grew up a world fed by disassociatn and vlence, and many of his most tertg characters are n artists, who have no punctns when to dog what they have to do orr to survive and amass more—of anythg, cludg dreams. They live by one fierce le: fuck the other guy before he fucks you. By the time the sm-thick “Glengarry Glen Ross” premièred, 1983, he had bee the bard of the Amerin <em>get</em>. His small-time crooks, hucksters, and real-tate agents were extreme or broken maniftatns of Aristotle’s le about what mak a play a play. In a 1997 terview <em>The Paris Review</em>, Mamet said:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>The ma qutn drama, the way I was tght, is always what do the protagonist want. . . . Do we see the protagonist’s wish fulfilled or absolutely trated? That’s the stcture of drama. . . . People only speak to get somethg. . . . They may e a language that <em>seems</em> revealg, but if so, ’s jt cince, bee what they’re tryg to do is acplish an objective.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Mamet’s characters set up a n whenever there’s somethg to be had, even if ’s only a person’s nocence—an nocence that the n artist rejects, bee why should anyone get off the hook of existence whout his fair share of existential disappotment? In “Edmond” (1982), the d-mannered tle character nonts and is beaten by a crooked rd aler and his shill. Beg btalized e Edmond to pursue his own bloodlt; he to feel that polens is for chumps and vlence is jtifiable—jt as John, the profsor acced of sexual harassment Mamet’s 1992 piece “Oleanna,” learns that bte force might even be what his tormentor is lookg for, place of all that unmanly talkg and thkg.</p><p class="paywall">Like Sl Bellow’s Augie March, Mamet’s fast-talkg guys are shysters their own mds. They make nversatns out of lists—of so-lled facts or mundane tails—and stori that never add up to anythg, or e to an end, bee liars and hysterics don’t know who they are unls they’ve got an dience. Like wrers, they want to nvce you by tellg you the only story they thk needs tellg. “Prairie du Chien,” om 1979 (now revival at the Atlantic Theatre Company, along wh Mamet’s 1985 short play “The Shawl,” unr the llective tle “Ghost Stori”), stars a character who is lled, simply, or not simply, Storyteller. The play opens a tra partment. It’s 1910. The lights are low, and the lootive is chuggg wt through Wisns. Stage left, two men s at a table playg rds: the Card Dealer (Nate Dendy) and the G Player (Jim Frangne). Upstage right, the Storyteller (Jordan Lage) is talkg to the Listener (Jason Rter). The Listener has his back to ; his son (Henry Kelemen) isn’t visible, eher—for most of the thirty-mute piece, he’s asleep on a bench bi the Listener. Origally wrten for the rad, “Prairie du Chien” is, first and foremost, a play about voic, but then what Mamet play isn’t? Or isn’t, ultimately, about Mamet’s voice? Still, the look of the show is as important as what’s beg said, and the scenic signer, Lren Helpern, and the lightg signer, Jeff Croer, have built a world which the physil limatns weigh on as heavily as the words.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">The Storyteller, who is th-amed and handsome—he looks like an exhalatn of mentholated cigarette smoke—is a monologuist, more or ls, and the tale he tells is strange, racial, and sexual. It volv a whe uple who owned a farm and ran a store Council Bluffs and had troubl. (The Storyteller never tells what he do for a livg, but sounds like he is a travellg salman.) One day March, the wife—very pretty, kd-seemg—showed up town wh bis on her hands. Her hband was jealo. The uple had words. Returng to the store Augt, the Storyteller disvered the hband on his way to the farm to kill his wife, who he said was pregnant wh someone else’s child. The Storyteller tried to stop the guy, but he knocked the Storyteller down and ran off. The Storyteller found the sheriff and they raced out to the farm. Then thgs got really weird. Not only was the barn burng but the farmer was hangg om a porch crossbeam, ad. Insi the hoe, a woman was cryg; she told them to go to the burng barn, where they found a black man wh a pchfork stuck his heart. “It was sickeng,” the Storyteller says. “Five feet away there was the woman. In this lovely drs. This red drs. On her face. Her back was blowed away. . . . And the barn’s about to go.” But that’s not the end of the tale. Meetg the sheriff outsi the barn, the Storyteller scribed what he’d seen. The sheriff argued that wasn’t possible: the woman the red drs was the hoe, alive.</p><p class="paywall">The Storyteller don’t impersonate the characters his gothic tale. Instead, before each character speaks, he ps for a moment, though not long enough to break the spell. But why is he weavg a spell, and out of such unpleasant material? When the G Player disvers that the Card Dealer has been cheatg, he pulls a gun, the eerie lm of the scene explos, and so do we—wh qutns. Is the Storyteller part of the Dealer’s n? Or is the Dealer workg wh the Listener? When the tra stops the prairie, the Dealer exs, and the Storyteller cis to stretch his legs. But first he asks, as he do at the begng of the play, if the Listener’s son is asleep, sayg, “I’d give a lot to sleep like that.” Perhaps the Storyteller, if he’s plic the Dealer’s n, feels guilt or remorse about how he mak a livg. Or perhaps he jt knows that the quickt way to any mark’s heart is to exprs ncern for his child. Or is the child, too, part of the n? Prumed nocents are anythg but. It’s all jt another illn.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Unlike Blanche DuBois, Mamet’s characters aren’t lookg for magic. They’re lookg to disabe others of the ridiculo sire to believe a tstg, lovg world. Miss A (the always pellg Mary McCann), “The Shawl” (which, like “Prairie du Chien,” is directed, wh mment, by Stt Zigler), is a lonely figure, who liv her memori of childhood. To fd out who she was—and what she might be—she viss a psychic named John (Arliss Howard) his shuttered apartment. John sports a gray ponytail; his hands make ltle florid gtur whenever he gets exced about anythg. He knows that Miss A is an unloved person; he n get to her—and to her money—by makg her believe that he will be a kd of iend to her. (In orr to get to her money herself, Miss A has to ntt her mother’s will.) John also longs for pannship. He exprs his love for Charl (Jason Rter) by revealg his secrets to him. No one is “psychic,” John explas. His sight to Miss A’s past life has everythg to do wh guswork. For stance, she’s right-hand, right? When right-hand people fall, he says, they often break the fall wh their left knee. So he gus that Miss A has a sr on her left knee—and she do.</p><p class="paywall">“The Shawl” is a portra of exploatn and of how the n n bee one’s inty. Con artists feel lonely, or lonelier, whout . Will Charl love John if he lets him on how he nducts his bs? Will Miss A tst John if he keeps gettg her story right? (And will that tst lead to much-need funds?) Eventually, Miss A nonts John wh at least one tth: the photo she showed him on one vis wasn’t actually of her mother; she cut out of a book. How uld he be fooled like that? John n’t answer the qutn properly; any se, he don’t have to. He draws Miss A back wh a visn of her mother wrappg her a shawl, a moment of maternal tenrns that Miss A never fot and never mentned to anyone. How did John know about ? He n’t expla his sight, but ’s enough for Miss A to believe that, bee he knows her past, he knows her. Miss A needs to believe John, jt as John mt believe the n orr to keep her enthralled his world of illns. Toward the end of the play, there’s this tense exchange:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>M<em class="small">iss</em> A: You <em>saw</em> her.</p><p>J<em class="small">ohn</em>: <em>Did</em> I see her? . . .</p><p>M<em class="small">iss</em> A: No. You mt <em>tell</em> me. You <em>mt</em> tell me. You <em>saw</em> her.</p><p>J<em class="small">ohn</em>: Y.</p><p>M<em class="small">iss</em> A: You saw her wrap me that shawl.</p><p>J<em class="small">ohn</em>: Y.</p><p>M<em class="small">iss</em> A: And you say I <em>lost</em> .</p><p>J<em class="small">ohn</em>: You, y, that is what I said. But you did <em>not</em> lose . You <em>burnt</em> . In rage. Standg somewhere by water, five years ago.</p><p>M<em class="small">iss</em> A: Y. And then I . . . ?</p><p>J<em class="small">ohn</em>: I do not know. That is all I saw.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Italics are ed to emphasize a pot, and one of the pots Mamet is makg here is, aga, about storytellg: Miss A, a kd of storyteller herself, wants to know what happened next. Was this or that? Miss A and John are a grift-driven Mike Nichols and Elae May, improvisg the tth ways that su their shared, false spirual awarens. In the end, we don’t know if Miss A stands to her any money, or if the lure of sh is jt her way of keepg John terted. John and Miss A are victimized by their lonels, and they want to victimize other people bee of .</p><p class="paywall">The nse and elegant plays are exemplary not only of Mamet’s protean talent but of what n happen to you if you expect some kd of Aristotelian payoff—the ual Wtern dramatic n—before you leave the theatre. Neher play ends wh a tharsis, and, by refg a satisfyg release, Mamet turns siways and ward to look at his savage world view, which the hunter be the game. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box ArticlePageSplAdRail-OyjwD jikppc"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailContent-jsltpq iZDmmY spl-ad-rail-ntent"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailTop-jUrrVY jzzFg"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="vgfnod"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailMiddle-tiRvu hiZeZX spl-ad-rail-middle"></div><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailBottom-dBKMGQ jmCMsn spl-ad-rail-bottom"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="8t8ve"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2015/06/29" data-reactroot="">June 29, 2015</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/hilton-als"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/hilton-als">Hilton Als</a>, a staff wrer at The New Yorker, won the 2017 Pulzer Prize for cricism. He published “<a href=">My Pup</a>,” November, 2022.</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/bce-norris" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Bce Norris</span></a><a href="/tag/culture" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Culture</span></a><a href="/tag/dave-malloy" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Dave Malloy</span></a><a href="/tag/david-mamet" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">David Mamet</span></a><a href="/tag/richard-greenberg" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Richard Greenberg</span></a></div></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt kbxOa-D newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Weekly</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc cKOhTM newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Your gui to the latt magaze and our biggt stori of the week, pl highlights om podsts, humor, and more.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT lglhcT text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. 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