David Mamet's 1985 play The Shawl w...

David Mamet's 1985 play The Shawl was recognized by way of one critic to be written in the playwright's trademark "terse elliptical style" while adding a "new vital air . . . the suggestion of the supernatural and the mystical, all the more haunting for its quotidian context" (Brustein 28) Although The Shawi exhibits one of the more conspicuous examples of Mamet's interest in magic and mysticism, like a fascination has increasingly informed his works for couple decades. Generally, "magic" in Mamet appears in common of two guises: either as sleightof-hand, in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as card playing (House of Games, Prairie du Chien), or, more oftentimes and more significantly, as an ambiguous spirituality linked with miracles, manipulation, and faith (We're No Angels, Speed-the-Plow). The brace concerns-physical dexterity of the commit to memory man/magician and healing insight of the priest/clairvoyant-are inextricable in Mamet's oeuvre "Magical" skills are further linked to theatre, as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but as metaphor and practical example, and, in Mamet's revealing novel play The Cryptogram, tied to central notions of language, belief, and fundamental human relationships. These make uneasys also coalesce provocatively in the succinct play The Shawl, and Christopher Bigsby accurately ascertains what appoints the piece apart from Mamet's more aggressive plays: "The furious pace. . is here stilled. The consequence is a work of genuine lyricism, a tone metrical composition ..." What John and Miss A "jointly solicit is some kind of absolution..." (129) To discuss magic and mysticism in David Mamet's work is to chart a growing preoccupation with individual and family identity, with grand further simple questions surrounding one's place in a world fragmented at avarice, loneliness, and fear.

Card playing is the greatest in number conspicuous and recurring representation of Mamet's interest in the basic, physical skill of tricks and sleight-of-hand. In his essay "Black as the Ace of Spades," Mamet explicates with minimal irony his regard for the numerology of cards, the importance of chance and its interpretation. In poker "a magic is created":

The game is not about currency The game is about regard with affection and divine intervention. The wealth is a propitiatory gift to the the author of all thingss It is the equivalent of Fasting and Prayer: it is to gain the God's attention, and to place the supplicant in the fitly humbled frame of mind to receive any information which might be forthcoming.

For the Cards are the emblems of the universe.

There are not many of them, but their possible combinations are myriad. (172-73)

Central to an appreciation of the cards' meanings is the ability to read, to "see" them. The three-card monte dealer in Edmond inquires suggestively, "Who saw the queen? We got brace cards left. Pay on the r queen who saw her?" (246) Of course, Edmond pick outs incorrectly, typical of his stymied search for discovery. His attempt to reveal a swindle also fails. The sharper explains: "You ain't goin' behold no motherfuckin' cards, man, we playin' a game here . ." (247). In short, Edmond can't read the signs and isn't privy to whatever answers they might reveal. trial of gullibility and "illiteracy" is his barely lesson.

A comparable altercation discloses in Mamet's brief, ambiguous Prairie du Chien. A gin game is interwoven with a story of phantoms and murder, and, while no rational connection is proffered between the narratives, the gin dealer's proclamations from end to end the play speak to the cards' evocative if unclarified symbology "I play the king right back. (Pause.) And I achieve the heart five. (Pause.) The five of hearts. What does that reveal us? (Pause.) When he has taken the three diamonds?" (58-9) The dealer's running banter from beginning to end the game is similar to the sharper's and calm more suggestive of a card reader, an inquisitive teller of fortune. The other player, consistently losing, suspects like Edmond a rigged game, and his solicit for the dealer to display his hand also brings neither clarity nor agreement. "And what if I don't want to indicate it to you?" (78) the dealer rejoins ominously. The subsequent act of violence is easily interpreted as the player's frustration at not being able to anticipate, to read, the signs. Mamet explains, "When we are betting in succession the cards, we love their combinations. Their beautiful unfolding means that the preserver Loves Us, their malevolent conjunction means that Someone is Trying to Teach Us a Lesson" ("Black" 173)

Frequently however, characters are shown the cards. That is, they are brought into a circle of knowledge that purports an understanding of emblems and the ability to interpret them. This introduction many times results in an even more perilous situation for the participant. During the opening machinations of House of Games, Margaret Ford is invited into the learn by heart men's lair ostensibly as a friend of Mike, the lead hustler. "I want you to do me this favor. I want you to be my 'girlfriend' for a while, proceed in the game, you stand behind me watch me play" (16) Mamet's closeup of the men's hands from one side of to the other the table, enclosed in a circle of light, further heighten the feeling of sleight-of-hand skill, of card tricks, of a "show" performed for Ford's unsuspecting benefit. Tellingly, Mike's designated foil in the show is played by Ricky Jay, a renowned magician whose possess credits include the 1977 dimensions Cards as Weapons. The mere hall's backroom, where the game takes place, is nearly identical in appearance to John's fortune-telling parlor in The Shawl: a table, the appropriate number of chairs, and correct lighting are all that is required to create the ambiance for a specialized "play" at conjuring. This latter analogy to theatre is integral to Harriet's design. Within momentums the hustlers in House of Games are demonstrating short cons/tricks to Ford as "reward" for her acuity. "The Mitt," "the Tap," "the Flu" all involve insider knowledge and practiced skill. "Timing, timing, it's all timing!" (26) explains Joey played at Mike Nussbaum, who also portrayed John in the initial productions of The Shawl. Mike invites Ford to "come back again and I'll point out you some other Jolly Pranks" (27) As her cab twitchs away, he absent-mindedly produces a coin; it disappears in his hands (28) Their catch is in.