The Shawl

For the story by Cynthia Ozick, seeThe Shawl (short story).

The Shawl
Written by	David Mamet
Characters	John Miss A Charles
Date premiered	April 19, 1985(1985-04-19)
Place premiered	Briar Street Theater,Chicago
Original language	English
Setting	John's office

The Shawlis a four-act play byDavid Mamet.It premiered at theGoodman TheatreNew Theatre Company in Chicago in 1985. The play concerns two men, John and Charles, who plan on defrauding Miss A out of her inheritance. The play scams and deceives to the very end, while emphasising the truth repeatedly.

Background

According toLindsay Crouse,"'David told me once that he started to write 'The Shawl' in part because people said to him, 'You always write such wonderful characters but you don't write plot,'.... So he set out to exercise plot-writing as a craft. And I think it came out beautifully. Everybody gets fooled at least once in this play.'"The New York Timesnoted that "whileThe Shawldoes not pretend at realism - Mr. Mamet has called itmy 'Twilight Zone' episode- it must convince the audience that an educated, middle-class woman would put her faith into a mind reader. And the psychic himself is not some gypsy in paisley but a middle-aged man who is worried about losing his young, homosexual lover. "

Productions

The Shawlwas initially presented by theGoodman Theatre's New Theatre Company in Chicago as the premiere production of their Briar Street Theatre. The play opened on April 19, 1985. Directed byGregory Mosher,the cast featuredMike Nussbaumas John, Lindsay Crouse as Miss A andGary Coleas Charles .

The Shawlwas producedOff-Broadwayat theLincoln CenterMitzi E. Newhouse Theater, opening on December 23, 1985, and closing on February 2, 1986, after 48 performances. The play ran in a double bill with Mamet'sPrairie du Chien. Directed by Mosher, the cast featured Mike Nussbaum as John, Lindsay Crouse as Miss A and Calvin Levels as Charles.

The Shawl'sfirst London production was at theRoyal Court Theatre Upstairson June 9, 1986. The production was directed byRichard EyrewithDavid de Keyseras John,Connie Boothas Miss A andMichael Feastas Charles.

The Shawlwas presented at the Arcola Theatre in London in September and October 2009.Directed by Amelia Nicholson, the cast featuredMatthew Marsh,Elizabeth McGovernas Miss A. and Paul Rattray.

Presented at the Young Vic in London in December 2012.

Plot

ACT 1takes place in John's office and introduces us to John and Miss A. John is an amateur psychic and Miss A. is a woman whose mother recently died and left her an inheritance. Miss A. seeks psychic advice concerning matters both personal and financial regarding her mother's will. John also advises Miss A that she may have untapped psychic abilities.

ACT 2introduces us to John's young protégé Charles, and alludes to the homosexual relationship between them. John explains to Charles the smoke-and-mirror tricks he uses on his customers, in particular Miss A, so that Charles may one day learn to make an "honest" living from this profession. Although John uses techniques of a questionable nature, he shows a more caring side towards his clients, whereas Charles is driven more by greed and ambition and is willing to compromise the ethics of the profession. They devise a plan to give Miss A what she wants: answers to her question about what to do with her inheritance. They plan to hold a seance and pretend to contact her deceased mother. In discussing the details of the plan, Charles pressures John into making it look like Miss A's mother will want to contest the will and give the inheritance to them.

ACT 3takes place the following evening. The seance is held and John uses his usual smoke-and-mirror techniques in concert with his seance research. He pretends to contact a 19th-century Boston woman, who in turn allegedly contacts Miss A's mother. But Miss A puts the two charlatans to the test. She came prepared with a photograph of her mother, as she had been instructed by John the previous day. However, the photo is a fake. When tested, John claims the woman in the photo is that of Miss A's mother. Miss A then exposes them by declaring the photo a fraud. But just as she is about to storm out on them, John has a genuine psychic vision from Miss A's childhood regarding a Red Shawl. John is able to give a detailed description of The Shawl and how Miss A's mother would sing her to sleep as The Shawl, draped on her lamp, cast a red shadow.

ACT 4takes place the following day. John is having a heated argument with Charles as he gets ready for his appointment with Miss A. John, having finally had the breakthrough psychic experience he wished for throughout his amateur years, is revealing to Charles the last of his tricks while telling him this is the parting of the ways. As Charles gives his farewell and leaves, Miss A shows up for their appointment. Upon being questioned by Miss A, John honestly admits to her that the Boston Woman was a fiction. However, Miss A is intrigued that John was able to have a genuine vision of her mother, because nobody could have made up the vision of The Shawl. Miss A offers John payment for helping her decide she should contest the will. And finally, when she asks John for clarification of how she lost The Shawl five years ago, John offers more genuine insight and elaborates that she burnt The Shawl in a fit of rage... but that's all he saw.

Characters

• John - a man in his fifties
• Miss A - a woman in her late thirties
• Charles - a man in his thirties

External links

• [1]
• [2]