American playwright David Mamet has written several renowned plays, ‘Oleanna’, ‘Speed-the-Plow’ and ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ to name but a few. He has also written fiction and screenplays for films such as ‘Wag the Dog’ and in addition he lectures at several distinguished universities. ‘Boston Marriage’ was first performed in 1999 and directed by Mamet himself.

‘Boston Marriage’ tells the story of Anna and Claire, two unmarried women living in Boston at the beginning of the 20th century. They are both unmarried as their sexual preferences lie elsewhere and have had a long-standing relationship as friends and also, on and off, as lovers. We meet them in Anna’s apartment at the time when she has just become the mistress of a wealthy man and Claire, having been away for some time, returns to Anna’s house to reveal some shocking and stirring news of her own… We are also introduced to Catherine; Anna’s Scottish maid who is fresh off the boat and struggling to find her place in Anna’s unconventional household.

We were first drawn to the play for many reasons. One being its rich and rhythmical language, dripping with metaphors and wordplay, at times mixing our modern language with that of the turn of the century. Another being the insight we get into how different and often difficult life must have been for most women of the period, not to mention those unmarried and homosexual. But above all because it is a most tragic comedy, containing both the ‘piquant and the sweet’, to use Mamet’s own words.