Boston Marriage

The term "Boston Marriage" is 19th century slang for the implied relationship between women who lived together, independent of men. This play examines the shifting and ambiguous relationship between two such women, Claire and Anna.

One of America's most revered and provocative dramatists, David Mamet conquers new territory with this droll comedy of errors set in a Victorian drawing room. Anna and Claire are two bantering, scheming ladies of fashion who have long lived together on the fringes of upper-class society. Anna has just become the mistress of a wealthy man, from whom she has received an enormous emerald and an income to match. Claire, meanwhile, is infatuated with a respectable young lady and wants to enlist the jealous Anna's help for an assignation. As the two women exchange barbs and take turns taunting Anna's hapless parlour maid, Claire's young inamorata suddenly appears, setting off a crisis that puts the valuable emerald at risk and threatens the women's future."Devastatingly funny ...exceptionally clever" - New York Times "Brilliant ...One of Mamet's most satisfying and accomplished plays, and one of the funniest American comedies in years" - New York Post "Wickedly, wittily entertaining ...what makes the play such brilliant fun is its marriage of glinting period artifice and contemporary frankness" - Boston Phoenix "[Mamet's characters] are at each other's throats with a wit akin to characters out of Wilde and a vengeance not unlike those from Pinter or Edward Albee" - Boston Globe Boston Marriage was first performed at the American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in June 1999. It received its British premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in March 2001.