The term "Boston marriage" dates back to the late 1800s, when it was used to describe a bond, usually platonic, between two independent-minded women living together sans men. But the upper-class roomies in David Mamet's Boston Marriage (1999) are anything but chaste. Though the play is a Victorian comedy of manners with an all-female cast — a departure from the testosterone-driven contemporary scripts Mamet is known for (Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo) — his women talk as avidly about their sexual appetites and are as adept at playing power games as any of Mamet's alpha males. Jobsite Theater's production features a strong trio of actresses, Katrina Stevenson and Emilia Sargent as the dueling "ladies of fashion" and Alison Burns as their put-upon Irish maid, and is directed by Karla Hartley (The Goat). Give Mamet some credit for being accidentally prescient; five years after his play premiered, gays and lesbians would be able to get married in Boston for real. Feb. 21—March 9, 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 4 p.m. Sun., Shimberg Playhouse-TBPAC, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, downtown Tampa, $24.50, 813-229-7827, tbpac.org.
This article appears in Feb 20-26, 2008.