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Customer Reviews (2)

David Mamet Book
My acting workshop instructor asked me to bring this book to class. It is very good for monologues and diologues

A great collection of short stories!
Mamet, in the introduction, calls these "three and ten minute plays some of the best work I've ever done, but what are they good for?" Many of these plays, especially "Four A.M.", "Cross Patch" and all of the short plays in the "Vermont Sketches" series are between two and five pages and are brief but powerful stories from the man who wrote "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "American Buffalo". One of these, "The Spanish Prisoner", was recently developed into a box office hit starring Steve Martin and Campbell Scott (directed by Mamet himself). Most of them were openers for his plays, and one or two were published in the New York Times. Overall, a very good series of short plays, stories and monologues. ... Read more

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One hundred years after the first publication of The Voysey Inheritance, David Mamet resurrects Harley Granville-Barker’s classic investigation into the capitalist soul in this brilliant adaptation.
For generations, the Voysey family business has been secretly skimming money from its clients’ accounts. When Edward, designated to take over the firm from his aging father, discovers the embezzlement that has been keeping his relatives in a life of luxury, he must weigh the trappings of wealth and the imperative to preserve his family’s good name against the better principles of his conscience. But moral righteousness turns to self-protection when he comes to understand fully the consequences of his “inheritance.” ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Madoff Blue Print
Its like Bernie read this book and then got down to business.What a story!

The Voysey Inheritance
This book was just what I needed for an acting class. I got it on time and it was exactly what I expected. ... Read more

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Comedy

Characters: 2 males, 2 females

Bare stage, movable props

The Obie award-winning Sexual Perversity in Chicago "takes funny and painful digs at the fantasies and distances of the contemporary sexual game," according to The New York Times. Two male office workers, Danny and Bernie, are on the make in the swinging singles scene of the early 1970's. Danny meets Deborah in a library and soon they are lovers as well as roommates. The other couple, Bernie and Joan, seem to have the politics of sex down pat but are as confused as their more naive counterparts. After much comic drama, the two men end as they started, talking a good game in the local bar.

Published with The Duck Variations.

"Mamet has the most acute ear for dialogue of any American writer since J.D. Salinger."-The Village Voice

"Marvelously observant...A glittering mosaic of tiny, deadly muzzle flashes from the war between men and women among the filing cabinets and single bars."-The New York Times ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Far superior to his fics
From SECRET NAMES by David Mamet: "I instance the phrase 'weapons of mass destruction'. This formulation is overlong, clunky, and obviously confected. This is not to say that this or that dictator, or indeed well-meaning soul, may or does not possess such tools. But the formulation itself is unwieldy and, to the American ear, unfortunate. It is the cadence of 'I'm not going to tell you again'. Rhythmically, it is a scold. And its constant enforced repetition by the newscasters (you will note that the people in the street do not use it often, and then with little ease), its very awkwardness, ensures that the phrase, and thus its reference, pass beyond the borders of consideration."

A better term would be "megadeath weapons". Even though it sounds techno-trendy.

A Collection of Essays
The 3 that I give this collection of essays is due to the fact that some of the essays are a pure delight and would earn the book a 5/5 stars, while others are down right offensive and whiney.I�d like to focus on the positive and say that any fan of Mamet should definitely buy this book.It is a quick read and a pleasure (mostly).

On the positive side, the book consists of 24 short essays, of which a few are among the most wonderful that I have ever read.Of particular interest was a story about gambling in Chicago.It is worded so beautifully, that the reader aches when it finishes.Another story is about his days as a copy editor on a pornographic magazine that is rather entertaining.Finally, there is an essay that all would-be writers will love called �The Diner� that discusses the craft of writing in relation to where one writes � as well as a number of takes on screenwriting, etc.I�ve left out a ton of great essays out, but this at least gives a window into the breadth that this book covers.

On the offensive side, I too am a Jew.However, Mamet becomes so �Us v. the Christian them� in some of the stories that I was actually turned off to him as a person.One essay criticizes �Shindler�s List� as being a terrible movie as if Mamet has ever written or directed anything as powerful.In another, he talks on the subject of minority rights in such a way that I want to slap him upside the head and tell him to quit his whiney driveling.Finally, in the wake of September 11th, his criticism of the government and their military actions were enough to cause me to put the book down.

As is always the risk in personal essays, some make me value Mamet as a talented writer, and some make me want to see his career come to a bitter end.The only way you too can judge is to buy this book and read it.At the end of the day, I�m happy I went on the journey� but wanted to warn you all about some of the sights.

Wow - What a smart guy!
Having been my first Mamet book, I was startled to realize just what an extraordinary talent lay beyond the creation of his play 'Glengarry Glen Ross.'Looking back, it was naive to think that a mere 'hack' could havewritten such an invective piece (which I first viewed as the popular majormotion picture), that talent like that would be present in any endeavor. And that is the case with Mamet's 'Make-Believe Town : Essays andRemembrance.' I urge any fan, casual or dedicated, to read this book forMamet's insight is spellbinding.It felt like I was actually spending timetalking to the guy. Gosh.I really do love this book.-I'm gushing!

Pure Mamet
Mamet writes on a variety of subjects, some "of importance" others meerly ruminations on past events or experiences. This leads to a certain uneven nature, as some essays seem like throw-aways in light oftheir immediate neighboors in the book. By the same token, some of thelighter subjects are the best in the book.

Overall: very good andrequired Mamet reading for any fan.

Mamet's book an interesting guide for students
I have a bachelor's degree in theatre. I was impressed by the essays in this book. They cover anything from script writing the the nature or art. Mamet is one of my favorite writers. I especially enjoy Oleanna. A mustread for any Mamet fan. This book presents excellent essays for classdiscussion or as a source for a paper. ... Read more

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A collection of Mamet's essays, touching on his most intimate interests and obsessions. They leapfrog from Oscar Wilde to the Tower of Babel, the Committee on Un-American Activities, Jewish scripture, police corruption, the art of acting, malt whisky and the charms of Edinburgh. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Search for a New Model.
Mamet quotes Hemingway among others here, "write the best story you can and then throw out all the good lines," as the best advice he ever heard about writing.
This is essential to the style and grace of Mamet's writing, in that he sloughes off so much in the way of explanation to take the reader on a journey into his mind and life.
And his mind is expansive and connected, aware and developed so much that this collection of essays, regarding numerous subjects becomes a treatise on Mamet's morality and appreciation for and of life at the end of the 20th century.
Opening with his turning fifty, a mood that pervades the whole, he discusses his youth in Chicago, the meta-physical nature of a similar black sweater to bygone ones, the zone of owning a poker game, what it is to be a Scotch Whiskey connesiour, homes and their qualities, Hollywood and it's ironies, a "perfect" first car, the nature of man to desire enslavement, the coming and existent domination of computers and television in human life, fearful witch hunting, why bigots are afforded their prejudice, and the attempt to master nature-in the form of a buck deer. Among others, these encompass an interesting and fluid jam into life through David Mamet.
Now, beyond skimming over what he writes about, there is much to say as to what he says. Why is there a folklore about John Henry defeating the machine drill, celebrating his accomplishment when he died immediately following? "I thought it hypocritical to celebrate John Henry's victory, for, surely, the next man couldn't beat the steam drill-John Henry himself couldn't beat it over a protracted period, and no one would be able to vanquish the next generation of the machine-and, so, our celebration of hime was disingenuous."
As to anti-semitism, "it is caused by self-loathing. The deranged individual or culture, the oppressor, cannot bear the knowledge of his or her own worthlessness and, so, projects the hated qualities onto a group easily identified as the Other. The only other necessary factor is that the group elected must be seen as powerless." There must be a response then to bigotry, complicity/silence is acceptance, and that response is "not for the sake of the bigot but for the sake of the recipient Jew-to proclaim and, so, to enjoy one's membership in the group."
On a lighter or perhaps more artistically anguished plane, Mamet exposes, as he is known for, the abominable Hollywood machine, which deals in destruction and is lead by fools who happen to have gorgeous homes full of incredible decor and artwork. The irony is that these people don't know, or care, they only pay, that is what they are good for, using money to look good, becaus ethey are supposed to, much to that chagrin or Mr. Mamet and the rest who hope to appreciate what they earn.
Surprisingly there is humor too, and more. I would read this again, and mark that as a distinguishing factor in any reading and writing. He does not though, wrote much about theatre, or acting, except for an analystical bit on why The Diary of Anne Frank is not a tragedy, nor a drama, but a comedy. For such clarifications and views, read this and perhaps appreciate the mind and heart of an important and qualified American voice. ... Read more

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"Enormous powers of observation...he has an ear for language."

-- LA Weekly

In these mordant, elegant, and often disquieting essays, the internationally acclaimed dramatist creates a sort of autobiography by strobe light, one that is both mysterious and starkly revealing.

The pieces in The Cabin are about places and things: the suburbs of Chicago, where as a boy David Mamet helplessly watched his stepfather terrorize his sister; New York City, where as a young man he had to eat his way through a mountain of fried matzoh to earn a night of sexual bliss. They are about guns, campaign buttons, and a cabin in the Vermont woods that stinks of wood smoke and kerosene -- and about their associations of pleasure, menace, and regret.

The resulting volume may be compared to the plays that have made Mamet famous: it is finely crafted and deftly timed, and its precise language carries an enormous weight of feeling.

"A very worthwhile collection...Mamet walks a line between provocation and enticement, and its precariousness almost always compels attention."

-- Newsday

"A delight...there is a lean, masculine quality to his essays."

-- Baltimore Sun ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Best Wishes Begotten
I propose that a poor to mediocre writer insights me to write because I believe I can do the same or better. But an exceptional writer insights me to write because I believe I must try to be as good or better. While being as good or better than David Mamet is not a necessary objective in itself, a hell of a task at that, bringing to the page the smooth articulate thoughts, observations and understanding he does in a piece like The Cabin is.
Most of these pieces, which are less essays and more pops, or a pastiche of his past/family/history, portraits of Chicago, New York, London, France and Vermont, gun culture, radio voices, golf, jobs and hobbies.
In many respects these are lite fare. Mostly short snips, they illuminate his person with fascile writing, are very likeable and (mostly) calming.
Being a Mamet lover, I would very much recommend these. They seem to be written if not in joy, then in peace....

Beautiful stories from the youth of an aspiring artist
As a young aspiring artist of sorts, I found reading Mr.Mamet's stories and reactions to his life at once turbulent, inspiring, and nostalgic.The honest care the author takes in describing the places and people of hislong life is so comforting, it is a struggle to believe that one person canlive the 'scenes' in his life in such peace.Mamet's occasional extremistopinions give the stories meaningful dynamics, and the stories arerecommended to anyone who likes to think about the little things in life,especially those from Chicago, Vermont, or New York.Consumes only alittle time but a lot of imagination.

Mamet-plus
Mamet's mere name has become shorthand for so much - a style, a voice, violence, woman-hating - that it's hard to just read a book of his, and it's hard to disassociate oneself from the stereotyping of his work, evenif one doesn't agree with the stereotypes.This is especially true whenreading another of his essay books.But the violence of the opening storytruly jolted me out of my preconceptions & made me wonder if I couldread on.I did, and I'm glad.The matzo ball/bearskin rug story brought awan smile to my face, & the title essay is a tremendously evocativepiece of writing that really sticks with you. ... Read more

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The 12 original and two classic essays offer a dialectic on performance and structure, and substantially advance our knowledge of this seminal playwright.The commentaries examine feminism, pernicious nostalgia, ethnicity, the mythological land motif, the discourse of anxiety, gendered language, and Mamet's vision of America, providing insights on the theatricality, originality, and universality of the work. Although the dominant focus is on Glengarry Glen Ross, several essays look at the play against the background of Mamet's Edmund, Reunion, and American Buffalo, whereas others find fascinating parallels in Emerson, Baudrillard, Conrad, Miller, and Churchill.The book also includes an interview with Sam Mendes, the director of the highly acclaimed 1994 revival of Glengarry Glen Ross in London, conducted specifically for this collectio. A chronology of major productions and the most current and comprehensive bibliography of secondary references from 1983-1995 complete the volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good book
I haven't been able to buy this book, but I have read it.It is very good, and doesn't just talk about the play, about half the essays are significantly focused on the movie version of Glengarry Glen Ross, andthere are a few that are completely focused on it.I believe one evenmakes a case that the movie is better than the play (which I agree with). A great book if you are interested in Mamet's work of genius! ... Read more

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For years, David Mamet has given the world gripping drama, hilarious encounters, and unforgettable characters through his plays, films, and novels. Now he brings his trademark style to a whole new genre, with a laugh-out-loud comic collection that provides a clever and postmodern take on the world of superheroes and ordinary life.
The Trials of Roderick Spode ("The Human Ant") follows the bizarre and hilarious adventures of Roderick Spode, an ordinary man who, after a few too many drinks, confuses a photo booth with a booth that gives out special powers, so he now turns into an ant half the time. Follow Roderick as he hangs out with his friend Cocky Cockroach, freelances as a comma, and fights his nemesis: the European Sourdough Rye!
The Trials of Roderick Spode ("The Human Ant") is a brilliantly offbeat and delightfully different offering from one of our greatest living talents.

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In the acclaimed Newmarket Shooting Script format --The official tie-in to the hilarious movie coming December 22, 2000, written and directed by one of the most extraordinary writers of our time, starring Alec Baldwin, Charles Durning, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Patti LuPone, William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Paymer, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Julia Stiles. Part Hollywood satire, part screwball comedy, State and Main explores what happens when a cell-phone wielding movie crew invades a quaint New England town. The residents are all too ready to jettison its pastoral grace for showbiz glitz. Laced with the tart dialogue characteristic of Mamet, State and Main follows screenwriter Joe White (Hoffman), whose old-fashioned values are put to task when he is the only witness to a heartthrob movie star's (Baldwin) indiscretions with a local teenage girl (Stiles). The movie's smooth-talking director (Macy) and aggressive producer (Paymer) pressure Joe to put aside his convictions for the sake of the film and his future writing career. Meanwhile, Joe falls for a local bookseller (Pidgeon), who challenges him to stand up for the truth. Rounding out the cast are Sarah Jessica Parker as a sexy Hollywood actress who tempts Joe, and Charles Durning and Patty LuPone as the town's star-struck mayor and his wife. Produced by Sarah Green (The Winslow Boy), the film's executive producers are Alec Baldwin and Jon Cornick; it is a Green-Renzi Production in association with El Dorado Pictures. In the Newmarket Shooting Script® Series format, here is the complete shooting script, an introduction written exclusively for this edition by David Mamet, movie stills, credits, and an interview with the writer/director. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Mamet with all the brillance and none of the violence
Unique screenplay that is virtually all dialouge. I've read it twice and still can't fully grasp how he makes the picture so clear in my mind with so little description. Impressive and a great education.

Its Just Impossible For Mamet To Write A Bad Script
I first got into films because of David Mamet. Back in 1995, three years after its theatrical release, I saw 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' I was all of 13 at the time, and I've been interested in movies ever since. David Mamet is the genius responsible for my undying love of the cinema. Every word he writes is the English language at its best. So lyrical are the cadences of his dialogue that its not like he writes, but more accurately paints with words. Look at his work and you realize you're not dealing with an ordinary playwright, you are dealing with a modern Shakespeare. Such is the quality that he brings to 'State and Main,' an endlessly funny and beautifully crafted satire that I rank right up there with 'Glengarry.' Mamet brings a depth to his characters that transcends the satire, the people in the screenplay aren't ducks to be shot down for the sake of humor, we care about them, and thus sympathize through the laughter. The plot, which seems unoriginal at first look is given a unique life thanks to Mamet, and it seems so carefully crafted as to bypass the inherent feeling that this isn't the first screenplay of its kind. 'State and Main' brings us a unique world, just a little off center for satire's sake but filled with characters that are more than the sum of their quirks, and the fact that it works is a testament to Mamet's genius. ... Read more

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Comedy / Characters: 4m, 1f / InteriorsDavid Mamet's new Oval Office satire depicts one day in the life of a beleaguered American commander-in-chief.It's November in a Presidential election year, and incumbent Charles Smith's chances for reelection are looking grim. Approval ratings are down, his money's running out, and nuclear war might be imminent. Though his staff has thrown in the towel and his wife has begun to prepare for her post-White House life, Chuck isn't ready to give up just yet. Amidst the biggest fight of his political career, the President has to find time to pardon a couple of turkeys - saving them from the slaughter before Thanksgiving - and this simple PR event inspires Smith to risk it all in attempt to win back public support. WithMamet's characteristic no-holds-barred style, November is a scathingly hilarious take on the state of America today and the lengths to which people will go to win."At once a barbarian, a bully, and an idiot ('I always felt that I'd do something memorable-I just assumed it'd be getting impeached,' he says), Smith brings oxygen to Mamet's rhetorical brilliance-so much that Mamet seems almost giddy with pleasure as he makes his cretinous creation squirm...Broadway comedy is generally a testament to Twain's maxim that honesty is the best of all the lost arts. On the boulevard, laughter is meant to distract, not galvanize, to enchant, not disenchant. Into this weak hand, David Mamet has dealt an ace." -John Lahr, The New Yorker ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Brilliant farce
And it is a farce, folks--let's remember that. Mamet wasn't looking to compete with O'Neill or Kushner, here. If you love brilliant comic writing and you're even a moderate Democrat, this work will leave you howling. It might be funniest play I've ever read.

A Turkey with Dressing
Mamet is wonderful. At his best, he is the best. "Novemeber" falls short of Mamet's greatest achievements. The author has always been funny; he is one of the funniest American dramatists around. These days he has been doing satire. He has the gift of dialog but I feel his inability to bring an idea to fruition leaves his recent work strangely incomplete. The patter is brilliant. This is, after all, "American Buffalo" in the Oval Office. This is Mamet's world. That he sees the American president as just another two-bit hustler is Mamet's key insight. I'm not sure he has another. This comic set-up more or less holds the play together. It works but it grows tiresome. At curtain one feels let down. For one thing, I am not sure that Mamet has fully developed his satire. He's got the patter down cold. One wants to hear more as one always wants to hear more Mamet. I fear, however, that one waits for the pay-off in vain. One problem is that his plotting around the President's decision not to pardon the nation's symbolic turkey unless he is paid a substantial amount of money is not enough to sustain a three-act play. The subplot of the blackmailing speech writer is a possible strong move, but I think Mamet got bored with the subject half-way through. Mamet does a great deal to make the thing sound with-it but in the end the play is bland. It is not relentless enough, crazy enough, not even angry enough. Mamet is coming close to losing his ability to create believable stories. Young Mamet believed in good and evil; now, there'sa conflict! Nowadays, Mamet has convinced himself that we are all corrupt. He is probably right, but this insight creates a duller humor.

"Throwing ONESELF Under The Bus"
In "November," playwright David Mamet turns his attention from the petty hustlers of the business world and those in the academy to a mordant examination of a more prominent - and presumably more dangerous - character type, the "imperial" President of the United States.

Although "November" offers a broadly farcical portrait of an overparted -or better yet - shockingly incompetent leader of the nation, the Never-Never-Land of Nixon's Watergate, Clinton's infamous pardons, and Bush's small CEO - loyalty - style "leadership" make Mamet's approach seem less exaggerated than close to reportage. Any more "realistic" a treatment, I suspect, would have defied the pen even of a Jonathan Swift.

The theme of the play is that the personal has become the political - in the worst way. The "common good," for instance, has now been redefined as whatever actions will insure a scoundrel's re-election. The office of President has become an unapologetic road to self-aggrandisement, presumably an extension of American business as it's practiced by the shameless, deal-making Me-Firsters who are the staple of earlier Mamet plays. The play's richest irony, though, is its revelation that the Presidency is -when push comes to shove- too limited an area for the full exercise of a scoundrel's talents, as the opportunities for crookedness, because of the inbuilt checks and balances in American governance, are 'sadly' narrower than those open to the enterprising CEOs of many a major corporation.

Mamet has been taken to task for the repetitive and ultimately painful use of the "F" word by his central character, Charles, the beleagured President. I'd argue however that the fault is the character's, not the author's. Though Charles' speech is undeniably ugly, the vulgar language suits his low, all too human nature. He is, after all, yet another clown dressed up in presidential red, white, and blue. His intense ego needs for power and control, while his presidency wanes, suffer frustration; his repeated use of the "F" word emphasizes his increasingly narrow means of satisfaction.

The flaw in this work, as I see it, is the employment of too small a cast of characters to create the larger canvas the material cries out for. Mamet has produced a cameo rather than a full-scale play. Most of the scenes are given over to monologues involving Charles on the telephone or to dialogues involving 2 characters in repetitive situations. The small scale treatment is not an imitation of Broadway practices in the 20's or 30's, as has been suggested. A glance at the dramatis personae of anything from those years, say, by O'Neill or Kauffman and Hart will reveal immense casts. The proximate cause of such reduction is more likely the current economics of New York theater which mandates such cost saving if one is to be produced at all. The consequence is that Mamet's intended satire on our "imperial" Presidents lacks both a suitable variety of character encounters and an in depth probing of the sort required for fully realized dramatic clarity and emphasis. Though stretched out over three acts, "November" is finally little more than a sketch, a clever stage "exercise" at best.

Mamet Doing Some Bottom Fishing
On Sunday, January 13, 2008, I saw the Broadway production of "November" with Nathan Lane. He was very funny in the role of a wisecracking President about to lose an election. The play was hilarious, but it was a slight Mamet effort, marred, I think, by the extreme overuse of a four letter expletive in all of its forms. After a while I saw the audience cringing at the use of the word, not because they were prudes but because its repetitive use became boring, annoying, grating, abrasive. One of our leading playwrights surely could have used his wide vocabulary to put in some other words. The play is a farce, a satire, a gag festival, but it is not great. Without Nathan Lane I believe it would have soon perished. As of this date it has twenty more performances to run.
The script does not read particularly well, and had I not seen it, I think I would like it even less. I haven't seen a recent play in which so much time is spent in telephone conversations with unseen, unheard "characters." It was an old convention of Broadway comedies that happily disappeared. "Get me Joe on the phone" etc, etc. The structure of the play is out of the nineteen twenties and thirties comedy cliché genre, and let's hope it's not resurrected too often.
Any excuse is made for a gag, a laugh line. Elements of the plot: The President is supposed to pardon the Thanksgiving turkey, President Charles Smith will do anything to garner money for his campaign, his presidential library and himself, his lesbian speechwriter has returned from China with her partner after adopting a baby, an Indian tribe wants a casino on Martha's Vineyard, bird flu may have been brought back from China, the President has a team of secret agents who can render his enemies to Bulgaria, and so on.
It's low grade Mamet by way of Neil Simon and Sid Caesar. It's comic; it's crude; it's over the top. It's a cynical look at presidential politics with yuks, but little intelligent wit or irony. One of our finest playwrights is doing bottom fishing when he should be deep fishing. While England's Tom Stoppard is regaling us with epic achievement of "The Coast of Utopia," Mamet is serving up schlock.
... Read more

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What makes an actor great? Why is English theater better than American-or is it? How good is David Mamet, anyway?
John Heilpern, theater critic for The New York Observer, has spent a career watching the plays and the players, the geniuses and the also-rans, the great and the not so great on both sides of the Atlantic, and writes about them with lightness and passion.
How Good is David Mamet, Anyway? is the best of John Heilpern's theater writings. The players are many: Vanessa Redgrave and Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren and George C. Wolfe, Fiona Shaw and Savion Glover, Karen Finley and David Mamet, and dozens of others. There's also an important essay on the differences between the British and American theater scenes, profiles of such legends as Noel Coward, Alec Guinness, and Michael Bennett, engaging pieces on such figures as Peter Brook and Robert Brustein, review-essays on dozens of great, good, and awful plays, as well as contrary opinions on some of our most widely admired playwrights. There are comic turns, too: "The Year of the Penis" and "The Art of Falling Asleep at the Theatre." Serious or witty, John Heilpern's criticism persuades us that theater matters, after all.
For anyone who loves the stage and its timeless mystery and fun, How Good is David Mamet, Anyway? is a chocolate box of a book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Old Reviews Are Good Reading
I'll admit (and, probably, commit) the tediousness of many reviewers. Sanctimonious and certain, they often slash and burn their way across a landscape that they know only as outsiders. But now and then you find someone who understands a topic deeply, has experience in it, and a sharp and humane eye, all while being amusing. I'd place John Heilpern in this category if his work didn't do so itself.

Theater critic for the New York Observer, Heilpern is passionate about the topic, has seen his own plays produced, and has an unusually keep wit. Although his latest book is a biography of the British playwright, John Osborne, I came across How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway?, which came out in 1999, in a used book store. I'll confess to never having read Heilpern's work before - it was the title that got me, as I'm not the world's largest Mamet fan, at least in the non-fiction of his that I've read of late. And it's fairly unusual for someone in the theatrical community to take on a contemporary icon.

But take him on Heilpern did, as well as writers at the New York Times, American anglophilia, Disney Land (the new name for Broadway), and other topics. At the same time, he's anything but mean-spirited. Many of his pieces put praise where he thinks it's due and tries to analyze what is good and bad about productions. Many of his observations run from the droll to the uproariously funny. And where else can you get a delightful transcript of a lunch between Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson.

If you've any regard for theater, or for intelligent criticism of any sort, you should be tickled with this book. Now I'll have to get hold of a copy of his Osborne biography.

It Matters, It Matters
I read this book, found some of the most entertaining, informative and lively criticism I've ever encountered, and came to this page to see what others were saying about it. Reading the slams by Booklist and Kirkus mademe wonder if I'd completely misunderstood "How Good Is David Mamet,Anyway?" But then I read the raves from Salon and Tony Kushner andother readers, andwondered who the heck is reviewing for Booklist andKirkus. Booklist calls it "daily journalism," but then the NYObserver apparently is a weekly. It's amusing that Kirkus ends its reviewrecommending a trip to the theater--if their writer got out more, he or shemight notice on a theater marquee that it's NOEL Coward, not NOL. (Sorry,my keyboard can't make the little double dots to go with the correctspelling.) A howler like that basically nolifies the rest of the review.You won't be seeing the collected works of either of these criticsappearing in bookstores anytime soon.

Can't Beat This One from the Theater's Number One Critic
John Heilpern is without question the best critic of his generation, and his reviews in the weekly "New York Observer" can't be beat! Make plans to buy this collection from the most important living theater criticand England's best export since Archie Leach!

Can't Beat This One from the Theater's Number One Critic
John Heilpern is without question the best critic of his generation, and his reviews in the weekly "New York Observer" can't be beat! Make plans to buy this collection from the most important living theater criticand England's best export since Archie Leach!

How Good Is John Heilpern, Anyway?
At last, readers beyond the subscription list of the New York Observer have the opportunity to read one of the most gifted--and funniest--writers around. As it happens, this book is a collection of his writing on theater(save for the non-theatrical, though rivetingly dramatic, account ofHeilpern's struggle with a murderous roommate named Jack the Cat), but thiswork is a delight for anyone who appreciates finely tuned yet uproarioushumor, a handsome prose style and a sensibility that is at once erudite,entertaining and inviting. How good is John Heilpern's "How Good IsDavid Mamet, Anyway?" anyway? Peerless. ... Read more

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Winner of two Obie Awards, a New York Drama Critics Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, David Mamet is widely considered to be one of the most prolific and powerful voices in contemporary American theater. A seminal figure whose reputation as an innovative playwright and filmmaker demands an appraisal of his thought and the evolution of his craft, Mamet's commitment to the dynamic of ethics and ethnicity heavily informs his work. Weasels and Wisemen is the first major study of Mamet's work to investigate the moral vision and cultural poetics upon which this playwright's vision is founded. Tracing the development of Mamet's canon over a period of twenty years from his early unpublished play Marranos through his most recent work, Leslie Kane examines the subtle link between the moral vision and ethical behavior that distinguishes Mamet's theater and film. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent insights into Mamet's oeuvre
Kane has really tapped the pulse of Mamet's works, making this a must for anyone who has read or seen his plays/films. She manages to uncover much of the subtle influences and the not-so-subtle manifestations of ethical codesin our society that have informed Mamet's writing, and she does so inscholarly but accessible language. She also does not stray too far from thetexts but supports her theories and arguments with a lot of direct citing,making sure that we don't get lost in a sea of theoretical lingo. A greataid to anyone hoping to get more out of this area of drama. ... Read more

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Contemporary playwright David Mamet's thought-provoking plays and screenplays such as Wag the Dog, Glengarry Glen Ross (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize), and Oleanna have enjoyed popular and critical success in the past two decades. Among the most prolific and provocative of writers, Mamet frequently draws emotional responses from both audiences and critics. Mamet in Conversation collects interviews with the playwright that offer readers insight into his life in the theater, his artistic vision, and the evolution of his craft. The interviews help followers of his work better understand the sensibilities that have informed his work in drama, film, and prose over a twenty-five-year career.
The conversations collected here--several of which appear in print for the first time--allow a glimpse inside Mamet's creative process, and to the recurring motifs that drive his work. The range of topics is impressive and includes the celebratory purpose of theater, the responsibility of the playwright, writing for Hollywood, the seduction of fame, the search for truth and the merchandising of it, and the decay of culture. The interviews shed light on the personal as well: Mamet's return to Judaism, his appreciation of Midwestern virtues, his love of rural Vermont, the problems of embattled virtue, and the challenge of aging. The book includes transcripts of Mamet's engagingly candid broadcast interviews with Jim Lehrer and Charlie Rose of PBS, published here for the first time.
Leslie Kane is Professor of English, Westfield State College. She is the author of three previous books and is President of the David Mamet Society of the Modern Language Association.
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Customer Reviews (2)

Textual Verbosity in Chicago
I was a David Mamet fanatic in high school. I had every play, essay, and acting text he wrote and would often read scenes with my friends from his most obscure works, like The Shawl (how did I not get beat up in high school?).

Later in life, a monologue from his play, Squirrels, was at the forefront of my auditioning repertoire.

As an actor, I was fascinated with the amount of information his scripts didn't give me, forcing me to fill in the blanks. As a reviewer of Squirrels once noted of Mamet's unique style, "The words of the script are read to establish the idea of what is happening. Then, they go to work on the sub-text that lies below the written word."

I've recently been wading my way through Ira Nadels just-released biography of Mamet called David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre, and find that even I am not enough of a Mamet-phile to appreciate the minutia of biographical facts which fill its covers--down to the street addresses of Mamet's various dwellings.

The writing has a very academic feel to it, as though I am reading someone's doctoral thesis on the playwright. Were I directing a Mamet play, or doing research on him for some other reason, the book would be invaluable. A page turner, it is not.

The book begins, as most biographies do, detailing Mamet's childhood in East Hyde Park, Chicago, tracing the origins of his strong work ethic, love of language and no-nonsense personality to the upwardly mobile aspirations of his parents, specifically his father, Bernie, a labor lawyer who drilled into Mamet at a young age that he'd better "be good at something," and who trained him daily to improve his awareness of language.

We follow Mamet through the various phases of his theatre-centered life--ushering at Off-Broadway's The Fantasticks, dabbling unsuccessfully in acting, and discovering his true talent as a writer, director, acting teacher and eventually moving into screen writing.

What stands out to me as his most important roles, which will likely leave the largest footprint on the theatre landscape is his role as teacher--of acting, writing, directing--and his essays about what a life in the theatre should be. He earned the nickname "Teach" amongst his poker-playing buddies in the early 70s, which eventually became a character in his Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, American Buffalo.

Among the most fascinating journeys the book lays out is the organic development of Mamet's style of writing and acting--sparse and at its extreme almost zombie-like--the rhythm of which is instantly recognizable as his. He began his studies in Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Theatre Playhouse, and continued to mold the ideas originated by Stanislavsky and revised by Stella Adler until he had created his own unique style, in which action reins supreme, and the text of the play is merely a framework to express what the characters want.

`"Good drama,' he writes, `has no stage directions.' We increase our enjoyment and involvement by the absence of the descriptive. The best productions occur in the mind of the audience; consequently, the best acting is straight up, emotionless, and clipped."

From his Bambi vs. Godzilla, On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business, Mamet says the three "magic questions" in writing any scene are Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? and Why now?

Nadel's style of writing, like his subject's, is very down-to-business. There is a wealth of information contained in these nearly three hundred pages. Unlike his subject, however, there is very little humor along the way. I was delighted to find this little anecdote about a third of the way in, which at least made me chuckle on the shuttle from JFK into the City.

"One evening, [David] Mamet left the theatre unhappy with his work.... A woman came up to him and said `God Bless you: You are the Savior of the American Theatre. I have been to see your play six times.' I cheered up and thanked her,' Mamet writes, and told her 'she had given me hope and that, yes, I, was going to go home and write. I thanked her again.' `Not at all, Mr. Durang,' she replied."

Nadel places two Mamet quotes on the page between the dedication and the introduction to the book. One of them, from Mamet's A Life in the Theatre sums up what the reader is about to get him/herself into:

Robert: How do you want it?
John: Give it to me straight.

That's exactly what you get in Nadel's book: just the facts. If you want more than that, pick up a copy of American Buffalo, or Glengary Glenn Ross, or The Duck Variations. Mamet's life is in there too, and it's probably a more interesting read.

As Mamet might put it...
...What a f***in' waste of time. Whether you're a fan of Mamet's or---like me---find Big Dave an increasingly sententious, contentious, and pretentious self-parody, there's one thing I hope we'll agree on:Nadel's biography is to be avoided. How did a book this badly written, this badly edited, this badly designed make its way into print? Factual errors abound and typos hover like flies over carrion. Combine these mechanical flaws with a steadfastly uncritical attitude to the book's subject and the dreariest sort of academic prose and you've got something that's only taking up space on the shelves. The contents are poorly organized, chronologically confusing and sometimes downright unintelligible. Mamet's worth a biography, all right, but this ain't the one. ... Read more