Two-hander pitting professor against student in battle of allegations, yet lacking in power.

While revered as among the most dramatic in theatre, David Mamet’s plays have never been easy to stage, often requiring seasoned actors with a certain aura to carry both the weight and length of his dialogue. As such, younger theatremakers tend to struggle to deliver the full extent of the material onstage, a prime example being Major Minor Encounters and The Windland Collective’s joint production of Oleanna.

In this production, unofficially an Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) alumni show, the performance is anchored by ITI graduates Choy Chee Yew and Swathilakshmi Perumal, while being helmed by director Grace Kalaiselvi, a former ITI student and graduate herself. Written in 1992, Oleanna is a tense two-person play that takes place in a university professor’s office, where college student Carol (Swathilakshmi) arrives to ask her professor John (Chee Yew) for help with her coursework. Seemingly innocent at first, Carol shows off a far less demure side as she reveals her anger towards John’s elitist attitude, leading into brazen accusations of sexual assault that put his career in jeopardy.

Staged at 42 Waterloo Street’s Black Box space, Lim Chin Huat’s set, while an accurate depiction of a professor’s office with its large desk, documents and other furnishings, stretches across the space lengthwise, and often feels a little too big for two actors and the relatively small audience. As a result, there is considerable distance between the audience and performers, who themselves seem somewhat dwarfed by the space and are unable to fill it with their presence.

Both actors also seemed somewhat unsure of the material, often rushing through their lines rather than taking the time to milk the most dramatic moments, or linger on particularly important words. The dialogue often feels like a blur, with the two of them simply trading lines without truly grasping the potential or essence of each character, resulting in a rather flat performance. Chee Yew in particular lacks the gravitas or pomp that John seems to require from his lines, coming across more as a tired middle-aged man rather than someone who truly does have prestige or years of experience under his belt.

On the other hand, while Swathilakshmi understands the change in Carol’s demeanour between scenes, one is still left unsure what anchors her as a character throughout, and who exactly Carol is by the end of the play. This comes from the extreme differences between both versions of herself, where the initial meek and panicky nature feels especially grating, perhaps intentionally so, before the 180 degree turn later is a sudden, complete shift that never fully commits to the idea of a woman who has taken complete power during the situation, with always the slightest hint of uncertainty in her voice.

Most egregious of all is how this production decides to turn what is ambiguous into the explicit, where John is shown to touch or assault Carol between scenes, rather than leave it up to audiences to decide or imagine if he truly did commit those acts. This makes it crystal clear that John cannot possibly be innocent, and automatically puts us on Carol’s side, rather than leaving us wondering if she should be justified in her tirade. Furthermore, in the final scene, meant to show John as having reached his limits as he brutally hits Carol, he instead only raises a chair but never commits to the act, ending the play on a whimper rather than a climax. Because the truth has been made clear on who the perpetrator is, there is no uncertainty or tension as to what is the ‘right’ thing that should be done, and so the resulting action is simply seeing a villain get his comeuppance rather than wondering how a cornered animal might behave, where we remain cautious over whether we should believe him, or her.

Rather than a struggle, this version of Oleanna feels more like a stalemate, and as valiantly as the actors try to emote and deliver their lines, both are miscast or simply lack the experience to fully convey its weight and intensify the atmosphere. For performers relatively new to the industry after graduating from ITI, both Chee Yew and Swathilakshmi still have some way to go before attempting a monster play like this again; the text itself has potential to be an explosive force onstage, but requires both closer reading and attention to detail that allows it to reach that level of drama.

Oleanna played from 22nd to 25th August 2024 at 42 Waterloo Street.

Director Grace Kalaiselvi Playwright David Mamet Cast Choy Chee Yew, Swathilakshmi Perumal Stage Manager Rhian Hiew Production Design Coordinator Lim Chin Huat Lighting Operator Henry Joseph Fundo