Vote Mamet

For comedians, an election year — and the fertile plain of material that springs from heavily made-up people trying to act as serious as possible — never comes too soon, but it has been awhile since Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet satirized politics. Wag the Dog (1997), which summed up the Clinton years, garnered two Oscar nominations and, except for a cartoon or two on the Huffington Post, was the King of the F-Bomb’s last crossing of the Potomac. This year’s historic election must have been a topic too good to resist, though, because Mamet is back with a farce set in the Oval Office. November, now playing at GableStage at the Biltmore Hotel, zeroes in on an outgoing president just before the people go to the polls to replace him.

In a role originated by Nathan Lane, Dave Corey stars as the commander in chief, with the venerable Joseph Adler directing. The New York Times called it a “laugh machine,” but it might be a truth machine too. Tickets range from $37.50 to $42.50.

Sat., Oct. 18, 2008