Souchet played Hercule Poirot (the Agatha Christie character), not
Inspector Clouseau (the Pink Panther character).

Picking nits,

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of bruce d. fisher
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 1:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Oleanna

I have seen the play twice in London--once about 10 years ago with David

Souchet miscast as the professor (recall he played Inspector Clousseau
(sp) 
in public TV Mystery series) and was far too "mousey" to play the
prof.)and 
a second time with a better, more plausible man cast as the prof--about
a 
year or so ago, again in London.  The play is a study in power 
relationships with a distinct reversal of power from dominant prof. over

student to dominant student over prof during the course of the 
play.  Whether Mamet's depiction is accurate across the board is 
questionable because the way he treats legal rights conferred on women
is 
to implicitly say they can be perverted by opportunistic women.  In so 
doing he seems to say a well intentioned law--protecting women from
sexual 
harassment--can, in a given situation, lead to unintended results.  I
have 
NEVER seen this play in the U.S.  Possibly a reason for this is the 
skeptical view Europeans have in "naive Americans' attempt to rectify
every 
wrong by passing a law.
                In terms of cases dealing with this topic, you might
want 
to consider CJ Rehnquist's opinion in Meritor v. Vinson (1986) in which
one 
of the most conservative SCt justices writes strongly in favor of women
who 
raise sexual harassment claims.  Clearly, Rehnquist does NOT agree with 
Mamet's "take" on the evils of conferring such rights on women.
                A provocative play, though.
                                    Bruce D. Fisher
At 11:46 AM 7/27/2005, you wrote:
>Hello everyone,
>I have been asked to participate on a panel to discuss the David Mamet
>play "Oleanna" as it relates to student faculty interaction.  Do you
>know of any specific materials that deal with that play in terms of
>sexual harassment law?
>Thanks.  See you in San Fran.
>rc
>
>--
>Ronnie Cohen, J.D., LL.M.
>Professor of Business Law
>Christopher Newport University
>1 University Place
>Newport News, VA 23606
>757-594-7075