Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th October 2004
Directed by Peter Woodward
Do men really think about sex every 7 seconds ?
David Mamet was born in Chicago in 1947. He studied at Goddard College, Vermont, (where he was later Artist-in-Residence), and at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York.
His first and many subsequent plays were first performed by the St Nicholas Theater Company, Chicago, of which he was a founding member and Artistic Director.
In 1978 he became Associate Artistic Director of the Goodman Theater, Chicago, where American Buffalo had been first staged in 1975, subsequently winning an Obie Award and opening on Broadway in 1977 and at the National Theatre, London, in 1978.
Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Duck Variations (Regent Theatre, 1977), A Life in the Theatre (Open Space, 1979), Glengarry Glen Ross (National Theatre, 1983; Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 1984), Edmond (Royal Court, 1985), Oleanna (Royal Court and Duke of York’s Theatre, 1993) and The Cryptogram (Ambassadors Theatre, 1994) have also been staged in London.
Other plays include Reunion, The Woods, The Water Engine (all first staged in 1977), Lakeboat (1982) and The Disappearance of the Jews (1983).
For the cinema he wrote the screenplays for The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, The Untouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross, We’re No Angels, Hoffa, The Deer Slayer, High and Low and Alice in the Hole. He was writer and director for seven films, including House of Games, Things Change (written with Shel Silverstein) and State and Main.
Bench Theatre have performed Glengarry Glen Ross in July 1992 and Oleanna in September 2002.
Sexual Perversity in Chicago is one of David Mamet’s earliest plays, now 30 years old. As the title implies, it is set in various locations (bars, offices, apartments, the beach, etc) in Mamet’s home town of Chicago.
It has long been acknowledged that Mamet’s ear for the tough, authentic voice of urban America is unsurpassed in modern theatre. This is expressed in this play where Bernie, Danny, Deborah and Joan, driven by impulses both primitive and subtle, grapple with themselves and each other in their desire to establish relationships of real fulfilment.
And always, it seems, the prize remains tantalisingly out of reach.
Often hilarious, always perceptive, this play unflinchingly addresses the fears and longings that we all, perhaps, have had to face.
Sexual Perversity in Chicago has only recently finished a hugely successful run in the West End.
| Danny Shapiro | Nathan Chapman |
| Bernard Litko | Damon Wakelin |
| Deborah Soloman | Robin Hall |
| Joan Webber | Lynda Flemming |
| Director | Peter Woodward |
| Backstage Crew | Alice Corrigan, Jeff Bone, Martin McBride & Sue Dawes |
| Technical Crew | Derek Callam and Sharman Callam |
As some of our regular patrons, and most of the Bench members will already know, my enthusiasm for the works of David Mamet borders on the obsessive. I refuse to apologise for this. I blame, entirely, those members of the Bench who, in 1983, organised a trip to the National Theatre in London to see a new play called Glengarry Glen Ross.
So impressed was I that, a few years later (1992), I somehow persuaded the company to allow me to direct the play here. Its success then relied solely on a superb, committed group of actors, and now I have a similar, only younger, team for Sexual Perversity in Chicago.
The ability to have characters appear to be speaking words they have only just thought about in immediate response to a particular situation or another character‘s utterance, I find fascinating and in my experience no one does this better than David Mamet. It may seem to an audience there actually exists no script, that what is happening on stage is random and improvised but, of course, it is not. The text is written as you will hear it – every word.
All scripts are hard to learn, but I would fancy that a text by Mamet is harder than most: its broken, overlapping, naturalistic rhythms demanding an accuracy and precision from the actors that test the most talented.
I am proud to have had four such actors put themselves forward to make this play with me and all the others mentioned in this programme. I am grateful to them all for their help.
Preparing and rehearsing Sexual Perversity in Chicago has, for me, been exciting, rewarding and, above all, enjoyable. I hope you find this evening just as good.
Peter Woodward, Director
The Bench Theatre gave an excellent performance of David Mamet's masterpiece.
The cast of four all gave winning performances in this hilarious-yet-profound play. David Mamet is brilliant both on characterisation and dialogue and this was the foundation of the play, dealing with relationships and sexual mores in a warm and witty manner.
Damon Wakelin gave a great performance as the laddish fantasist Bernard.
He was well supported by nathan Chapman as his more sophisticated friend, Dan, and Robin Hall as Dan‘s attractive girlfriend, Deborah. Lynda Fleming completed the cast as Joan, the jealous flatmate of Deborah.