Mamet, David (1947—)
One of the most important American playwrights of the twentieth century, David Mamet is the voice of the common man—or even criminal—in the theater. He has be...
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Playwright and screenwriter David Mamet is highly praised for his accurate rendering of American vernacular, through which he explores the relationship between language and behavior. Born in Chicago, ...
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David Mamet was born and raised in Chicago. "We have some strange local mythology. No Chicagoan makes gangster jokes or thinks of the City as particularly violent (which it isn't). (Al Capone did say,...
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"In this country of incessant obbligatos accompanying all activity--music in offices, and elevators, tapes in cars, radios in restaurants--Mamet has heard the ultimate Muzak, the dissonant din of peop...
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In the following review, Resnikova writes that Mamet has merely presented “his theory of sexual anger” in Oleanna.
David Mamet's latest play, Oleanna (the infelicitous title re...
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In the following review, Wendling comments favorably on The Village.
One impulse of our postmodern culture has been to place the grandest triumphs of spirit on a level with the banalities of everyd...
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In the following review, Van Leer discusses many of Mamet's works that were produced from the mid-1970s to 1988.
In the past fifteen years David Mamet has established himself as one of our m...
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In the following review, Kanfer provides a negative judgment of the three plays in The Old Neighborhood.
David Mamet has made a considerable reputation out of staccato and scatology. When his chara...
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In the following review, Tandon asserts that The Old Religion is a departure for Mamet and comments on the novel's focus on meditative introspection, whereas he believes many other of Mamet...
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In the following review, Kellaway praises the cast performances, the sets, and the writing in The Old Neighborhood, lauding the subtle, dark nature of the three plays.
A little light shines on a br...
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In the following interview, Mamet and James discuss the details of writing and shooting a script, and in particular the adaptation of the Terence Rattigan play The Winslow Boy for the screen.
In hi...
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In the following review, Price outlines Mamet's main messages about acting in True and False.
In David Mamet's True and False, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-nominate...
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In the following review, Fleming summarizes the stylistic elements of Wilson.
The most arresting thing about David Mamet's new novel [Wilson] is its dust jacket. The front cover (reproduced ...
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In the following review, Gibson writes favorably of Jafsie and John Henry praising the collection for its wit, trademark terseness, and dramatic style.
Essayists come in three varieties: the self-r...
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In the following essay, Weber discusses Mamet's ideas about the role of theater in contemporary society, focusing on writings in which Mamet addresses the structure of tragedies versus melodram...
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In the following essay, Merlin dissects Mamet's advice to actors in True and False, contending that Mamet misunderstands or misinterprets the Stanislavsky Method of Physical Actions.
Althoug...
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In the following review, Levi finds Wilson obtuse.
It was Alfred North Whitehead who said “all philosophy is merely footnotes to Plato.” But it has taken David Mamet to write a footno...
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In the following review, Brewer favorably assesses On Directing Film, contending that it provides insights on Mamet's filmmaking approach.
David Mamet has never wanted for confidence. With w...
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In the following review, Showalter contends that Mamet fails to objectively address harassment in Oleanna.
By all counts, this should be a championship season for the playwright David Mamet. The mo...
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In the following review, Kanfer asserts that Oleanna is “inconsistent” and possesses a “confused purpose.”
Hero is the surprising word that men employ when they speak of...
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In the following essay, Begley explores David Mamet's relationship to the theater and film industry, using one of the author's many adapted works as an example.
“If it's...
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Critical Essay by Edith Oliver
David Mamet's funny, haunting "A Life in the Theatre" … is entirely a matter of conversations between two actors—a young one, John ...
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Critical Essay by John Simon
[Reunion] consists of two wretched curtain raisers of about 10 minutes apiece, which finally raise the (figurative) curtain on a 45-minute play that, though appreciably b...
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Critical Essay by Edith Oliver
David Mamet's disappointing comedy "The Water Engine" … is a sendup of radio drama in the thirties and at the same time an attempt to recapt...
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Critical Essay by Robert Storey
The making of Mamet's America is founded upon a verbal busyness, glib, deft, quick; the parenthetical asides that lace his dialogue (destined, undoubtedly, to b...
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Critical Essay by Edith Oliver
["Reunion"] is about the reunion, after twenty-one years, of a father and his daughter in his apartment in Boston…. Needless to say (for this is Ma...
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The papers of playwright, writer and film director David Mamet _ from handwritten journals to correspondence with actors _ has been acquired by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the Un...
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In an effort to get more people to notice its new vehicles, Ford Motor Co. has enlisted the help of filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet to direct some of its commercials.The...
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Last night at the Palm restaurant on West 50th Street, the actor Dylan Baker was talking about how glad he was to be working in New York. But it's not Los Angeles that snatches him away.“The...
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Let’s be blunt, as befits our author.
David Mamet has directed more than a dozen movies, none of which suggest he has much of an affinity for the job. Things Change (1988), Homicide (1991), ...
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You might be forgiven for thinking that Nathan Lane was shot out of a cannon when the curtain rises on "November," David Mamet's maniacally funny new comedy now producing waves of laughter at Broad...
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Perhaps you've heard about the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a glass observation deck that will jut out from the edge of the canyon 4,000 feet over the Colorado River. The Skywalk is scheduled to open to t...
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Most people associate celebrity with SUVs, Manolo Blahniks, and Malibu beach homes. But not Alicia Silverstone. The actress, 30, has chosen to parlay her fame into a life of activism. She has...
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Nobody can do menace quite like F. Murray Abraham, a man born to inhabit sinister.The actor expertly demonstrates how in "Mauritius," Theresa Rebeck's slick, often unconvincing new play that can't ...
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Prestige revivals mark this spring's theater season, with several potentially bankable classics opening on Broadway in the next month. Among the most anticipated are Tennessee Williams' Southern dr...
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The Last Time Running Time 96 minutes Written and Directed by Michael Caleo Starring Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser, Amber Valletta
A fine actor without a workable script is like a new kitchen with...
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