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.

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.

In the following review, Van Leer discusses many of Mamet's works that were produced from the mid-1970s to 1988.

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 melodramas.

In the following review, Showalter contends that Mamet fails to objectively address harassment in Oleanna.

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 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's works rely heavily on external action and dialogue.

In the following review, Fleming summarizes the stylistic elements of Wilson.

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 become as celebrated as Pinter's pauses) suggest minds that abhor verbal vacuums, that operate, at all levels, on the energy of language itself…. Because so much of the activity of his characters is prescribed by their speech, it is often fruitless to analyze their "psychology": like the victors of Dos Passos'...

In the following review, Brewer favorably assesses On Directing Film, contending that it provides insights on Mamet's filmmaking approach.

In the following review, Kanfer asserts that Oleanna is “inconsistent” and possesses a “confused purpose.”

In the following review, Resnikova writes that Mamet has merely presented “his theory of sexual anger” in Oleanna.

In the following review, Levi finds Wilson obtuse.

In the following review, Wendling comments favorably on The Village.

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.

In the following review, Kanfer provides a negative judgment of the three plays in The Old Neighborhood.

In the following review, Price outlines Mamet's main messages about acting in True and False.

In the following review, Gibson writes favorably of Jafsie and John Henry praising the collection for its wit, trademark terseness, and dramatic style.

["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 Mamet), the humor—and there is plenty of it—is as true as the emotion. By the time the play is over, two lives have been laid bare before us…. Time after time, the conversation plunges into depths, and time after time the father brings it back to the surface, realizing, after another reminiscent anecdote that comes to nothi...

[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 better, is still nothing on which a curtain especially needs to rise. In The Sanctity of Marriage, a few feeble comments on the evanescence of conjugal love are implied; it is all rather as if a couple of pages from a mediocre but full-length play were ripped out and served up as an autonomous and astonishing whole. The only astonishing thin...

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 recapture the spirit and mood of the period…. Mr. Mamet has supplied any number of shrewd atmospheric touches to the broadcast: a sound-effects man works busily in a booth upstage left, the actors casually double and triple their roles, and there are commercial breaks and organ "stings." And the broadcast episode itself is care...

David Mamet's funny, haunting "A Life in the Theatre" … is entirely a matter of conversations between two actors—a young one, John …, and an older one, Robert…. They meet when they are rehearsing together for a show, and over the course of the evening we follow the growth of their friendship…. [Collaterally, we follow their careers through] fingernail parodies of various hack scenes from every conceivable kind of hack play the two actors have appeared ...