Oleanna, by Pulitzer prize winner and Tony nominated David Mamet directed by Jagdish Raja

Synopsis

Premiered in 1992, this two-character play is as relevant today as it was then. In a terrifyingly short time, a male college professor and his female student descend from a discussion of her grades into a modern reprise of the Inquisition. She accuses him of sexual exploitation. By doing so his future is in danger. But is he really guilty? Or is she a schemer? Rebecca and Preetam will have you yelling your opinion out loud as you leave!

Director's Note

We arrived in Bengaluru in 1974. I directed my first play in 1979 - 38 years ago. The passion for the stage emerged from a desire to tell a story - a spoken story by a playwright that spurts forth from the mouths, the bodies, the gestures, the movements and the interaction of the actors - the storytellers. I am thus blessed: David Mamet is the writer; Preetam and Rebecca render it, to make you think; take sides; ponder, change sides, and finally wield your power to judge. You must decide. Please come and DECIDE..

From the Actors
Preetam Koilpillai
One of the themes that Oleanna deals with is something very close to my heart: Education; and within this theme, the theories of how we learn, how children learn and what we learn. In so many systems, including our own, education has been reduced to a mindless regurgitation of facts and figures. This kind of education produces a particular kind of individual; an individual incapable of independent thought and deed; and a society in which dogma, authoritarianism, and even extremism, become the norm. Oleanna might have been written in a different time and place, but it confronts us with questions that are as relevant today, if not more, as they have ever been.

Rebecca Spurgeon
I begin my journey to play Carol with belief. I trust her Faith, I feel her Fear. Carol's arguments may seem lacking in reasoned objectivity and serve as a vicious response of a student spurned. But I also see that her arguments are important and worthy of discussion today.

I believe, that the events in the play and the way it ends would not serve as retribution for her. Nothing can. For her Faith is shaken. Something inside her, a belief in the world and the future, that she nurtured all her life is taken from her. And in the place of that Great Faith is... Nothing. I think often of Carol and what she might be doing 10 years on. Who is she now? Has she regained her Faith? Can she live without Fear of being robbed of it again?