Oleanna by David Mamet

I read this play to fulfill my final genre requirement for the year. I find it somewhat difficult to read plays because there is a major performance component in them. When we read them in class, such as Antigone and Brighton Beach Memoirs, each character is read by a different person with the intended inflections. However, when I read Oleanna independently, it required me to not only read the play, but also imagine it being performed.

Aside from that, I was still not a fan of the plot of the play. It followed a discussion between a professor and one of his college students. I found the tone to be too angry and the plot did not really go anywhere. The discussion did not lead anywhere and I thought the ending did not really fit the rest of the story. Also, because the dialogue was only between two people, I found myself bored often. I would only recommend this book to drama lovers, who would probably be more likely to analyze the underlying discussion. I would still like to find other plays to read so that I can become more used to understanding them, rather than having to see them being performed.