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...
Read more
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, ...
Read more
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,...
Read more
"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...
Read more
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 refer...
Read more
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 everyday ...
Read more
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 most...
Read more
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 characte...
Read more
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�...
Read more
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 brown...
Read more
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 his 1...
Read more
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-nominated s...
Read more
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 her...
Read more
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-reve...
Read more
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...
Read more
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.
Although i...
Read more
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 footnote ...
Read more
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 work...
Read more
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 movie...
Read more
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 Ja...
Read more
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 no...
Read more
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 &#x...
Read more
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 be...
Read more
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 recaptu...
Read more
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 be...
Read more
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 Mam...
Read more
Mamet, David (1947—)
David Alan Mamet
David Mamet
David (Alan) Mamet
