Mamet, David (Alan)

Mamet, David [Alan] (1947– ),Chicago playwright whose works include Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Duck Variations, two one‐act plays (produced 1974, published 1977), lively comedies respectively about two young men on the prowl for women and two loquacious old men who can't do much but talk. American Buffalo (1975, published 1977) is a two‐act naturalistic play presenting some petty criminals. Reunion and Dark Pony, one‐act productions (on stage respectively in 1976 and 1977 and in print in 1979), followed. A Life in the Theater (produced 1977, published 1978) is a work in the same category, a one‐act play depicting a seasoned and a young actor on and off stage with symbolic overtones about different ways of life. It was followed by Shoeshine (1979), which was included with other Mamet works in the publication Short Plays and Monologues (1981). Edmond (1982) is a play about a middle‐class New Yorker who leaves wife and home to find his true nature by experiencing life in the city's corrupt and violent subculture. Glengarry Glen Ross (1984), presenting tough, crooked real estate salesmen, was given a Pulitzer Prize when simultaneously published. Writing in Restaurants (1986) is a book of essays, and Some Freaks (1989) is a volume of memoirs, as is The Cabin, Reminiscence and Diversions (1993). In 1981 he created the film script for the remake of Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice. He wrote the screenplay for and directed the film House of Games (1987), about a woman among a nest of thieves and con artists. The Woods (1977) is a drama about a would‐be romantic weekend. Then came the brilliant Speed‐the‐Plow (1988), excoriating Hollywood and its denizens, marked by crude and melodious dialogue. In 1992 Oleanna was produced successfully. A female student at a university wants help and clarification from her professor, and reacts to what she perceives as his self‐satisfied attitude by denouncing him to the tenure committee as a sexist. He is denied tenure, his career ruined. The girl can be seen as rightly aggrieved or as a conniver working with her “group” in a kind of political cleansing. His first novel, The Village (1994), is a satire of an urbanite's efforts to take on small‐town, old‐fashioned values. Among Mamet's recent efforts are screenplays for the Hollywood films The Winslow Boy (1999), State and Main (2000), and Spartan (2004), all of which he directed.