“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”
― David Mamet, Boston Marriage
Goldberg Street by David Mamet(1985)
The Plain Facts
- Length:Three Pages
- Genre:Theater Production (first aired in 1985 at WNUR Radio in Chicago on March 4, 1985).
- Characters:
- Man (Originally played by Mike Nussbaum)
- Daughter (Susan Nussbaum)
- Setting:(Mamet is not concrete here, he does not mention any of the setting.) However, from the clues in the script this is what I see: Somewhere around a table where the Daughter and Father can have a conversation that is deep. I would think it would have to be in a coffee shop or a bar, because it needs to be away from any distractions.
So, what's It About Man?
A father's remembrance brings his daughter closer to his lines.
Vegetable Juice
First Words
Goldberg Street. Because they didn't have it. They had Smith Street-they had Rybka Street. There was no Goldberg Street. You can keep your distance and it's fine. If a man is secluded than he feels superior. Or rage. But where's the good in that?Final Words
They sent me for a joke. Because I could read the compass. I was glad to go. I knew they thought me ludicrous. Our shame is that we feel they're right. (Pause)I have... no desire to go to Israel. (Pause)But I went to France.Literary Review
David Mamet examines the roll of being a jew amidst gentiles and nails it here. Its not that we want to be strange, it is that we are strangers in a land not of our own making, and one where at any time someone can attack us for being the JEW. As Shakespeare said:Fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction.
Turnip Tips
- Watch a number of scenes on You Tube by David Mamet
showcases nine of the finest Jewish playwrights, including Elizabeth
Swados, William Finn and James Lapine, Herb Gardner, Jeffrey Sweet, Jon
One can buy this book in paperback from Alibris for one dollar.