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Playwright David Mamet<\/strong> never appeared to be a huge fan of critics, and once called a pair<\/a> of high-profile reviewers the \u201csyphilis and gonorrhea of the American theater.\u201d Since then, the Pulitzer Prize winner has taken a hard right<\/a>, penning a 2008 essay<\/a> for the Village Voice<\/em> entitled \u201cWhy I Am No Longer a \u2018Brain-Dead Liberal\u2019\u201d and gaining the advocacy<\/a> of folks like conservative commentator Barton Swaim.<\/strong> It\u2019s perhaps unsurprising, then, to hear that Mamet has not invited critics to his latest play, nor is it a shock that one of the cast members is controversial actor Shia LaBeouf<\/strong>, who faces troubling allegations<\/a> from several women. What is surprising is that LaBeouf appeared to flout Mamet\u2019s anti-critic tendencies, and personally invited L.A. Times reviewer Charles McNulty<\/strong> to the show.<\/p>\n LaBeouf, a once-ubiquitous actor who made headlines last year<\/a> during a public dispute with Don\u2019t Worry Darling<\/em> director Olivia Wilde, has been harder to find since former partner FKA Twigs<\/strong><\/a> (born Tahliah Debrett Barnett<\/strong>), singer Sia<\/strong>, and stylist Karolyn Pho<\/strong> came forward with allegations against the actor. Barnett filed a civil suit against<\/a> LaBeouf in December 2020 in which she accused him of sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress, and also claimed that he had knowingly infected her with a sexually transmitted disease.<\/p>\n In response, LeBeouf told the New York Times,<\/em><\/a> \u201cI have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I\u2019m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt,\u201d and that he is \u201ccommitted to doing what I need to do to recover, and I will forever be sorry to the people that I may have harmed along the way,\u201d but that some of the claims made against him \u201care not true.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Barnett\u2019s suit against LaBeouf was recently delayed, Pitchfork reports<\/a>, as scheduling issues have held up depositions and \u201ccertain discovery issues still remain to be resolved.\u201d The trial is now scheduled for Los Angeles Superior Court on October 14, 2024.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, LaBeouf took on his first-ever stage role in Mamet\u2019s latest play, Henry Johnson<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> Per its description, the show \u201cfollows the plight of a man after an act of compassion upends his life,\u201d and is currently running at The Electric Lodge Theater in Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason you likely haven\u2019t heard much about this offering is that this is one of Mamet\u2019s clandestine world premieres,\u201d McNulty writes<\/a> of the show, to which \u201ccritics were not invited, even after they politely asked.\u201d McNulty has written about Mamet\u2019s evolving reputation<\/a> over the years and doesn\u2019t seem surprised by the diss. Given the reviews of recent works<\/a> like Bitter Wheat<\/em> (Mamet\u2019s play about Harvey Weinstein<\/a>), as well as Mamet’s widespread excoriation for his embrace of conspiracy theories<\/a>, we probably shouldn\u2019t be, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nor was LaBeouf. In an email to McNulty, he wrote, \u201cThree weeks into a successful run of \u2018Henry Johnson,\u2019 and we have yet to receive a review, analysis, or any illuminating interpretation of our work, positive or negative. Outside of a few tweets, and word of mouth. I know Mamet prefers this.\u201d<\/p>\n But LaBeouf, it appears, does not. \u201cPersonally, I find dramaturgical criticism instructive and generative,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI think it\u2019s good for the sport and I would be pleased as punch if you could join us in attending the play one of these days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n McNulty took LaBeouf up on his offer, and the overall review is\u2026not bad? \u201cLaBeouf is scarily good,\u201d he writes, and it’s his role that generates most of the critic\u2019s praise. The jury is out on if Mamet will ever recover from statements like<\/a> \u201cTrump did a great job as president.\u201d But if LaBeouf sends a polite and charming email to everyone disconcerted by the allegations against him, will that be enough to return him to the greater public stage?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n