Arthur Holmberg

Buddy Plays and Buddy Films

“Mamet’s signature as playwright,” says Paula Vogel, “is his ability to dramatize men’s fascination with other men.” Buddy films, a staple of Hollywood, exploit this fascination, but they deny it as vigorously as they flaunt it. “In our society,” Vogel continued, “men showing tenderness for other men is taboo.” Taboo because deep male friendship triggers homosexual panic. Mamet has dealt with a broad range of psychological, social, and intellectual issues, but exploring the attraction men feel for other men remains his forte, and unlike the Hollywood product, Mamet has the sang-froid to dramatize this fascination without disavowing it. The central concern in Mamet’s work, writes David Radavich, is the “single-minded quest for lasting, fulfilling male friendship.” The turbulence of male bonding drives Mamet’s plays, and he looks at it without blinkers. No other American playwright has explored the war zone we call male friendship with as sharp a scalpel as Mamet’s. For this reason, Guido Almansi dubbed him the “chronicler... of the stag party.”1

John Gabriel Borkman

Affisch for teaterforestallningen John Gabriel Borkman pa Abo Svenska Teater 19 och 20.1.1897