It was great to see David Mamet’s OLEANNA again. This is a dazzling work from a master theatremaker.

The  play starts  ordinarily, like a blue sky morning with a few little white clouds around. A struggling student is having a meeting with her Professor in his rooms about her grades, and how she can best go about improving them. It’s a scene that takes places in University campuses around the world every other day…

As the play pushes on, more and more  and darker clouds roll over….The Professor declares that he likes her..on another occasion he touches her shoulder. He tells her that so much in university’s is a sham…She bites back…She tells him that he is not interested in his students, he is interested in furthering his career..getting his tender, signing the dotted line on his new house.

By the play’s end, some seventy minutes of stage time, and many twists and turns later, it is pitch black and we are in the middle of a massive storm. The two characters are exposed…ripped apart..laid bare…undone.

The Sydney Theatre School’s (STS) intimate theatre  was a good space to take in Mamet’s raw drama. Every nuance in the two actors finely detailed performances, Jerome Pride as the Professor, (Pride also directed the piece), and Grace O’Connell as his aggrieved student, could be absorbed. The production has a quirky parallel with the play, O’Connell is actually one of Pride’s students at the school.

The set was sparse…the Professor’s  desk and executive chair, and a basic visitor’s chair… A few coat racks…The blocking and lighting design were clear, uncomplicated and effective, as was the edgy music grabs that featured in the black-out transitions between scenes.

Recommended, Sydney Theatre School and Actors Not Feelers production of OLEANNA opened at the Sydney Theatre School, 45 Chippen Street, Chippendale on Wednesday 25th June and runs until Sunday 6th July, playing Wednesdays to Sundays at 7.30pm and Sundays at 5pm. Ticket prices $25 full, $20 concession:- www.trybooking.com/ewhp.

The School is taking this production of OLEANNA along with its next production, Mark Matthews revival of  Shakespeare’s classic MEASURE FOR MEASURE, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.