When Adrienne Truscott read in 2017 how playwright David Mamet had imposed a ban on post-show discussions of his work, she wondered why the writer of such acclaimed plays as Glengarry Glen Ross and Oleanna wasn’t keen on meeting his public. The result is Masterclass, a parody of the sort of exchanges that might occur if the grand old men of American playwriting were put in the spotlight alongside a fawning interviewer. Out of this comes a seriously funny discourse on privilege and power in a world where tough guys still appear to rule the roost. “ There are some writers that are esteemed and given the name genius,” says Truscott of her collaboration with the Dublin based Brokentalkers company , “and they're shit. I guess I felt there was some lazy mythologizing going on, and if you actually look at the work, there is some really bad writing, which shaped how people my age thought about what is good playwriting.” As well as Mamet, Truscott, fellow performer Feidlim Cannon an
An archive of arts writing by Neil Cooper. Effete No Obstacle.