David Mamet is a writer with snap and bite (and sometimes crackle and pop), and this time, his fangs grab the legal process by the throat as a rich white man (Richard Thomas) is accused of raping a black woman. With a powerful microscope, Mamet lays arguments out there blatantly, magnifying everything as an experienced, cynical lawyer team, white James Spader and black David Alan Grier, aided by the young, beautiful new lawyer Kerry Washington, figure out whether or not and how they might defend Thomas.
It makes for gripping theater as it proposes black or white (metaphorically as well as literally) arguments with no grays: black basically hates white and vice versa. Mamet knows his tempos, and chose himself to direct the production. He did well. There are gaping holes in the story whose existence is covered up by pace, action and a big surprise. All design aspects of the production are just right: set by Santo Loquasto, clothing by Tom Broeker, lighting by Brian MacDevitt.
Once again Mamet is his own man: controversial, theatrical, flawed, and terrific. As in Oleanna, people were arguing with each other as they left the theater. Fun.
