David Mamet’s 2005 courtroom burlesque is filled with profanity, racial and religious invective, and homophobic shtick. But the only shocking thing about it is the inept way the usually masterful playwright juggles these elements. The action involves a Jewish defendant, his Jew-hating Christian attorney, a stoned judge, and a closeted gay prosecutor whose sissy boyfriend is throwing a snit fit. Offstage, an Israeli-Palestinian summit provides a chaotic counterpart to the onstage insanity. The all-male cast is good, the pace fast; the jokes are intermittently funny but hardly cutting-edge. Nothing in this 90-minute one-act matches the raunchy fun or satiric sting of South Park or Family Guy. And Mamet’s intricate sentence structures and stuttering rhythms come off more as self-parody than style. Through 4/23: see chicagoreader.com for complete schedule. 3/30-4/1: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM. Then Wed-Thu 4/5-4/6, 7:30 PM. Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312-443-3800, $15-$35, festival passes $70-$205 (does not include admission to The Revenge of the Space Pandas).
