#MeToo Pinter and David Mamet’s Oleanna

While reviews of David Mamet’s last stage play Bitter Wheat (2019) have dismissed it as a misjudged reaction, both to the Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo movement, when it premiered in London, his earlier play Oleanna (1992) had a more profound effect on debates around sexual politics in the early 1990s. This article looks at Harold Pinter’s direction of the 1993 London premiere of Oleanna. Drawing closely on archival materials from the David Mamet, Harold Pinter, and Royal Court archives, discussion will focus on Pinter’s use of Mamet’s rejected original ending that gives the character of Carol greater agency. Given Pinter’s insistence that Carol’s accusations of rape against her tutor have absolute legitimacy, the article also argues that this attitude offers a reassessment on how issues of sexual consent and assault can be interpreted in his own drama, especially when—as like Mamet—Pinter has been periodically criticized for misogynism.