علی اکبر علیزاد

Dramaturgy is a western term which has been prevalent in Iranian theory and practice of theater as early as 1990’s. A term that Lessing introduced to western theater in eighteenth century, which has become one of the most important terms in the western tradition of theater ever since. As a dramaturge/ director, Brecht gave a broader spectrum to the implications of the term and turned it into one of the most significant topics of twentieth century theater. Meanwhile, in Iranian theater since 1990’s (which is to some extent the focus of this essay), by entering the practical and theoretical fields of theater, not only it provoked numerous topics regarding the ‘definition’ of the term, but also resulted in copious theater productions that were dramatized by a dramaturge. Such shifts and changes not only led to fundamental question such as ‘what is dramaturgy?’, but also stretched the domain of topics to the realms of identity, roles and borders of dramaturge/dramaturgy. This essay strives to offer a renewed explanation of playwright/director’s dramaturgical practice while probing its problematic aspects in Iranian Theater.

David Mamet’s Oleanna (1992) is the most controversial play among his plays, including Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1971) and American Buffalo (1975), which both came as something like a shock. With Oleanna, the shock was completed; the play provoked many debates on political correctness and the sexual harassment. Many feminist critics attacked it for the seemingly misogynic theme supported by the play. After this first wave deflated, critics focused on other themes: power, language, and gender; now the play was interpreted as a clash between two sexes over power. One of the most Influential approaches has been McLeod’s suggestion that the narrow critical preoccupation with sexual harassment, political correctness and beleaguered masculinity in Oleanna had obscured what was in fact a far wider and more challenging dramatic engagement with issues of power, hierarchy and the control of language. This essay sees Oleanna from this viewpoint and tries to focus on the dramatic structure of the play itself, which is unique among the contemporary American plays. Structure of Oleanna, while seemingly related to American realism, reveals anti-realistic dimensions which is similar to Pinter’s work and the European dramatists. Mamet’s linguistic model in Oleanna through pauses, repetitions, and cuts is the instrument of retardation. In Oleanna, structure is in one sense Aristotelian, but Mamet through this language obscure Aristotelian model. Form and content, are inseparable: language is the subject of play; its uses and misuses. But language means dominance too. Also, gender becomes important during the play: Carol uses sexual politics to change her position in the hierarchy of power. Also I suggest that Oleanna, as Mamet said, is a tragedy on power. John and Carol’s battle is over more power; both of them are blind, and their recognition is when both fall; John beats his student and Carol ruins John’s wishes