New Progressive Play Castrates, Murders David Mamet

David Mamet saw it coming.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, director and screenwriter penned an op-ed with the title, “Why I am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal” in 2008, and he watched his career implode.

He didn’t assault a fellow artist or commit a felony. His “thought crime” was more than enough. Mamet recently admitted just how much his political transformation cost him. 

In a word? Dearly. Why, it’s almost like there’s a modern Blacklist against conservative artists.

Now, a new play is focusing on Mamet, and it takes Mamet’s conservativism personally.

The Hollywood Reporter sums up, “A Play About David Mamet Writing About Harvey Weinstein,” in one terse sentence:

…a fictional David Mamet is poisoned, castrated and murdered with his own playwriting award.

Now, imagine if a similar play targeted, say, Lena Dunham or Stephen Colbert, two chronically liberal artists, in such a violent manner. What might the reaction be? Colbert got canceled for losing CBS $40 million a year, and we’ve endured more than a week of media mourning.

In this case, playwright Mathilde Dratwa gets a fawning profile in The Hollywood Reporter. Even more interesting? The interviewer doesn’t even suggest that the play’s violent theme might be worrisome.

It’s reminiscent of the 2017 version of “Julius Caesar” in which a Trump stand-in is killed on stage.

Of course, Mamet’s right-leaning nature isn’t his only thought crime. He also pens characters who are aggressively male, and some treat women poorly, according to THR. The nerve!

Dratwa admits she enjoyed Mamet’s work before, presumably, finding it problematic. She’s also furious that some of his plays, even unfinished, get guaranteed stage time.

Perhaps it’s because Mamet has earned dozens of honors, including the Pulitzer Prize.

The anti-Mamet production had a one-night-only off-Broadway performance featuring Abbi Jacobson, Billy Eichner and Kara Young July 21.

To his credit, Mamet hasn’t let himself remain silent. He still writes books about art, culture and politics. He even keeps making movies, albeit in the indie market with a fraction of a traditional film’s budget.

Perhaps Dratwa’s next production could focus on an eternal human foible – envy.