Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and celebrated screenwriter David Mamet is known for distinctive, brilliantly-crafted, fast-paced dialogue that more often than not characterizes contemporary men and their circumstances in a satirical way, and doesn’t shy away from filth and other variations of real talk as audiences generally know it.
However, in “Boston Marriage,” a rarely-produced comedy that opened on Broadway in 2002, all that we love and admire about Mamet is put to use creating a world more or less without men: an early 20th Century drawing room possessed by women.
And Kalamazoo audiences have been treated to this witty comedy directed with aplomb by James Furney at the New Vic Theatre. With just three characters and a very fine cast, this Victorian tale is so witty and so wickedly funny it feels as if it’s equal parts Oscar Wilde and BBC’s Absolutely Fabulous.
The play’s title is a once-used phrase to describe the cohabitation of two women financially independent from men, and in this play, Anna (Jennifer Furney) aspires to such an arrangement with her longtime love and hustling protege Claire (Anna Kuhn) who has just declared she has her sights set on a much younger woman. Psychological manipulations and shenanigans ensue, involving Anna’s benefactor’s family, with the unwitting aid of Anna’s Scottish parlor maid Catherine (Jocelyn Furney), whose name and country of origin neither women can remember, which makes for a terrifically successful long-running joke.
Mamet’s dialogue is dazzling, but it can only be as good as those who perform it. And this cast is superb, capturing the quick pacing, the distinctive rhythms, surprise quips, the sass and snark elegantly, with terrific blocking that illustrates and accentuates the push-pull nature of the relationships to show, ultimately, that women and men aren’t so different after all.
Jennifer Furney’s Anna is both utterly in charge and vulnerable. Her longing for Claire is palpable and yet her verbal sharpness belies it. Anna Kuhn’s Claire is wonderfully commanding and appropriately melodramatic. They’re fantastic comediennes in their own right and their chemistry coupled with perfect comedic timing make Mamet’s smart, funny writing come to life in the most delightful ways. And Jocelyn Furney’s Cathering is hilariously confused and completely guileless, her little interruptions timed to perfection, her physical comedy spot on.
Together they’re a marvelous ensemble cast who use the simple yet elegantly dressed set to effectively create the period, the moment, and the situation with utter realness and totally entertaining.
The New Vic is a treasured Kalamazoo institution, known for exceptional ensemble work, especially their enchanting folk music and annual sold-out production of A Christmas Carol. After being on hiatus, their “Boston Marriage” brings audiences back for a wonderful example of what they’ve missed: simply excellent theatre that focuses on human connection.
Boston Marriage
The New Vic Theatre
Next date: April 14, 8 p.m.
https://www.thenewvictheatre.org/event-details/boston-marriage-2023-04-14-20-00
