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''Mastergate'' is a play by Larry Gelbart, which he describes as "A Play On Words". The title refers to a fictional political scandal enacted on "Master Pictures Studios", a fictional movie company that is actually a cover for arms trading. The title of the play also references other real-life political scandals, such as Watergate and others subsequently given the suffix -gate. ==Plot Summary== The play is set in the Sherman Adams Room at the John Mitchell Building in Washington, D.C.. The "Select Joint Congressional Committee Investigating Alleged Covert Arms Assistance to Alleged Other Americas" investigates the CIA's attempt to divert arms to Central American guerrillas through a motion picture company's high-budget action film, entitled "Tet." (a reference to the Tet Offensive) ''Mastergate'' is a satire on congressional investigative committee hearings that took place during the McCarthy Era, on the Watergate investigation, and on the Iran-Contra affair. In his opening address, the chairman explains that the purpose of the hearings is to find out what the president knew and if he had any idea of the affair. The satire employs many aspects of rhetoric and word-play, including puns, malapropism, mixed metaphors, tautology and Washington double-speak.The playwright said of his work that it is "First and foremost...a play about language. It's not for me to discover that politicians are corrupt or full of hot air. It's really about what they and television have done to the way we speak and the way we listen."〔http://articles.latimes.com/1992-11-01/news/tv-1363_1_hot-air〕 The play uncovers aspects of the absurd in the working life of government employees; for example, it portrays a non-meeting, a non-discussion, and people being present in the minutes of the meeting despite not attending. It has been argued 〔 that several of the characters have real-life counterparts, for example, Major Manley Battle may be based on Oliver North. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mastergate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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