Squirrels (play)
Squirrels is a one-act play by David Mamet.
The 1974 comedy is about Arthur, a middle-aged, egotistical hack writer who has been working on the opening line of a story involving a man's encounter with a squirrel for fifteen years, and Edmond, the young fledgling writer he has hired as a secretary/collaborator. They soon discover that Arthur's flamboyant redundancy clashes with Edmond's mediocre melodramatic style as they each develop increasingly ridiculous scenarios for the story. They are joined by Arthur's cleaning lady, also an aspiring writer, whose suggestions seem to be the most promising, but they too eventually bog down in banality.
In October 1974 Mamet directed the first production of the play at the St. Nicholas Theater Company in
The British premiere was presented by The Mandrake Theatre Company at the Kings Head Theatre, London in 1993. Directed by Aaron Mullen. [1].
In more recent years it has been staged by the Philadelphia Fringe Festival [2], Upstairs at the Gatehouse in
The play was published in a