A "Boston marriage" is a 19th century phrase used to describe a long-term, monogamous relationship between two single women, usually feminists. They were also typically women of fashion whose female values created strong relationships with other like-minded women.
The Irish Classical Theatre Company continues to fill its seats with David Mamet's "Boston Marriage," a caustic comedy about the struggles of two upper-class women, Anna and Claire.
When Claire first enters her turn-of-the century drawing room and questions the large, valuable emerald Anna has around her neck, Anna gives a tart reply.
"I wear it, should I be summoned on the instant, to choke a horse," she says.
Anna has become the mistress of a wealthy man who has given her ample income to match the jewelry. But at the same time, Claire has fallen in love with a much younger woman, and wants her jealous friend to help win her over. Audience members laughed when the two scheming Victorian-era women exchanging modern insults while their theatrical maid Catherine ducks in and out of the room.
"They've done a really good job of keeping a classical essence that you wouldn't see anywhere else," said stage manager Nicole Kennedy of the Irish Classical's intimate theater-in-the-square (the only such stage in Western New York).
The refined drawing room atmosphere, with arrogant - and sometimes shockingly crude - characters, may remind many theatergoers of an Oscar Wilde play. But in performing Mamet's play, actress Heather Adair claims to have noticed a stronger comparison between Mamet and Samuel Beckett, which is easily seen in "Boston Marriage's" quick and strategic speech.
Actresses Colleen Gaughan and Josephine Hogan, who perform the roles of Claire and Anna, respectively, are theater veterans whose performances are captivating; notably their effective facial expressions.
Niagara University graduate Adair also gives a smashing performance as the emotional Catherine, who rounds out the comedy nicely, especially when Anna fires racial slurs at the maid for disrupting her.
"What do you want? What? An apology for your potato famine? Haven't you ever heard of crop rotation?" asks Catherine.
"I'm Scottish, mum," replied the stunned maid.
The plotting and bickering reach a climax at the end of Act One when Claire's young friend arrives and creates a crisis that threatens the future of both women. The scene was the most enjoyable of the play, as most of the action tapered off afterwards. Once Anna and Claire realized the huge mess they were in, they also realized the need to combine their forces and figure out how to sustain themselves.
But Mamet never fully silenced the mischievous and humorous sides of these women.
When Anna asks, "When have you known me to be trivial?" Claire gives an astute reply.
"You once referred to the Crimean War as 'just one of those things,'" she said.
Mamet, who is known for writing dramas involving foul language and manly men, as in "American Buffalo," turned 360 degrees with "Boston Marriage" to discuss witty Victorian-era lesbians. In doing so, he gave them a more powerful voice than men of that century gave to women. Instead of sweet, moral beauties who could not sustain themselves without men, Mamet presented the bold, swaggering Anna and Claire.
Women of this period were imbued with virtues of sensibility, moral purity and compassion, and strictly forbidden from the male realm of rationality. The distinctions between men and women grew. Women were even urged not to show post-marital heterosexual emotions, except of a strained variety. As a result, the sexes became practically different species, and Mamet displays the outcome of such societal norms brilliantly.
"Men, what can you do with them?" asks Claire.
"Just the one thing," replies Anna, simply.
