Boston marriage

The play Boston Marriage at the India Theater by David Mamet takes us to a living room in the United States at the end of the 19th century, in which we find two ladies conversing: Anna - the protagonist and mistress of the house - who, after separating from her husband, found a man rich man who supports her – who would like to take advantage of his lover's protection to take Claire back with her, who has just arrived on a visit. But, from what seems like a conventional plot with a formal meeting between two friends, a very different plot instead develops; in fact, soon in the conversation with its refined and almost pompous vocabulary, vulgarity follows one another and we learn that the two ladies were actually once a couple.

In fact, the expression Boston Marriage was in use in New England between the 19th and 20th centuries to allude to cohabitation between women who were economically independent of men. In this regard, the 1886 novel The Bostonians by Henry James immediately comes to mind, in which the author gives us the fresco of a society halfway between values ​​now linked to the past and new progressive ideas, with specific attention to the female condition.

Thus, among twists that also involve the young waitress, the play proceeds with rhythms well studied by the author, giving it a hilarious, almost farce-like façade.

One of the most important authors on the American scene - Pulitzer Prize winner in 1984 and nominated several times for an Oscar for the screenplays of some films - David Mamet has created a work that recalls the works of Tennessee Williams and above all, the comedies of Oscar Wilde. In fact, Mamet places refined language at the centre of the piece, but also the unsaid, the allusion, the extravagance, the paradox.

With Maria Paiato, Mariangela Granelli, Ludovica D'Auria; directed by Giorgio Sangati.

Photo credits: courtesy of Serena Pea