Race (play)

Race

Original Broadway poster
Written by David Mamet
Directed by David Mamet
Date premiered 2009
Place premiered Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, New York
Original language English
Genre Drama

Race is a play by David Mamet that premiered on Broadway in December 2009.

Productions

Race premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on November 16, 2009, in previews, officially on December 6, 2009, closing on August 21, 2010, after 23 previews and 297 performances. Directed by Mamet, the cast included James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, and Richard Thomas. Scenic design was by Santo Loquasto, lighting design by Brian MacDevitt and costume design by Tom Broecker. David Alan Grier was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.

The producers announced on April 21, 2010, that the play had recouped its investment, making it the first new play to recoup on Broadway in the 2009–2010 season.

The play has been produced in US regional theatres, such as at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2012 and Next Act in Milwaukee in 2014.[1]

The play made its Canadian premiere in Vancouver in November 2012,[2] produced by Mitch and Murray productions with a cast that included Aaron Craven, Marsha Regis, Craig Erickson and Kwesi Ameyaw. The production was nominated for a Jessie Richardson award for outstanding performance by a supporting actress for Marsha Regis.

Canadian Stage's production ran from April 7 to May 4, 2013, at the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto, Ontario.[3] The cast included Jason Priestley, Matthew Edison, Nigel Shawn Williams and Cara Ricketts.[3] Williams garnered a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role – Play for his performance.

It was produced in the UK at London's Hampstead Theatre from May 23 to June 29, 2013, directed by Terry Johnson and with a cast comprising Jasper Britton, Charles Daish, Clarke Peters and Nina Toussaint-White.[4][5]

A French Canadian version has been created in Montreal and run from February 17 to March 26, 2016, at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe.

Plot

Race follows "three attorneys, two black and one white, offered a chance to defend a white man charged with a crime against a black woman." The plot unfolds as the three lawyers and defendant grapple with the evidence of the case and their own feelings about race. Mamet has said that the "theme is race and the lies we tell each other on the subject." [5][6]

Characters and Broadway cast

Critical reception

The play has received mixed reviews.[8]

Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: "Though the first act of 'Race' is similarly propelled by barbed one-liners, its second act offers reassuring evidence of Mr. Mamet’s scalpel-edged intelligence. And the issues it raises, particularly on the ethnic varieties of shame and the universal nature of guilt, should offer ample nutrition for many a post-theater dinner conversation.... Yet despite the tension of its subject, and an abundance of the corkscrew plot twists for which Mr. Mamet is known, “Race” lacks real dramatic tension."

Brantley gives James Spader a rave in his Broadway debut, stating, "Mr. Spader could play Jack with his heavy-lidded eyes closed. He keeps them wide open, and considers every inflection and gesture in creating the one role in “Race” with more layers than the who’s-scamming-whom plot. He’s good enough to make you wish that Mr. Mamet had given his other actors the same opportunity."[9]

References

  1. ↑ Kuhrt Brewer, Carole (January 27, 2012). "Race Review: Goodman Theatre's Chicago Premiere of David Mamet's "Race" Stirs Up a Heady Mix". Chicago Now.
  2. ↑ http://www.lauramurraypr.com/review-race-by-mitch-and-murray-productions
  3. 1 2 "Jason Priestley to Star in David Mamet's 'Race' on Toronto Stage. The Hollywood Reporter, April 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ Hampsteadtheatre.com
  5. 1 2 Time Out
  6. ↑ Mamet, David (September 9, 2009). "We Can’t Stop Talking About Race in America". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
  7. ↑ "Eddie Izzard Joining Cast of 'Race'". New York Times. May 13, 2010. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
  8. ↑ "David Mamet's 'Race' on Broadway: What did the critics think?". Los Angeles Times. December 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  9. ↑ Brantley, Ben (December 7, 2009). "In Mametland, a Skirmish in Black and White". The New York Times.

External links

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