Mamet << MAM eht >>, David (1947-…), is a leading American playwright. In his major plays, Mamet uses forceful, realistic dialogue to create a world he sees as corrupt and morally decayed and ready for radical change. Mamet often focuses on how following an amoral business ethic reduces people to commodities and creates an emotional and spiritual wasteland.
Mamet first gained attention for two short plays, Duck Variations (1972) and Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1974). His first major full-length drama was American Buffalo (1977), a naturalistic study of three petty criminals. Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) is an exposé of greed and cynicism among scheming real estate salesmen that won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Speed-the-Plow (1988) is a satiric portrait of the movie industry in Hollywood. Oleanna (1992) examines charges of sexual harassment between a college professor and a graduate student. The Cryptogram (1995) deals with the psychological abuse of a child by the adults closest to him. Boston Marriage (1999) focuses on a lesbian couple in Boston during the 1800’s. Romance (2005) is a comedy that satirizes Middle East politics and the American judicial system, among other topics, while November (2008) is a satirical comedy about a fictional American president. Race (2009) is a dark comedy about white America’s attitudes toward race. The Anarchist (2012) is a two-character play about a prison inmate with a radical political past who asks the female warden for parole.
Mamet has written adaptations of plays by such writers as Anton Chekhov of Russia and Harley Granville-Barker and Terence Rattigan of the United Kingdom. He also has written several screenplays, including The Verdict (1982), The Untouchables (1987), Things Change (1988), and The Edge (1997). Mamet wrote and directed the motion pictures House of Games (1987), Homicide (1991), State and Main (2000), Heist (2001), Spartan (2004), and Redbelt (2008), and the HBO cable television movie Phil Spector (2013).
Mamet’s nonfiction pieces were collected in Writing in Restaurants (1986), Some Freaks (1990), and The Cabin (1993). He evaluated the modern motion-picture industry in Bambi vs. Godzilla (2007) and Everywhere an Oink Oink (2023). In addition, Mamet wrote a study of anti-Semitism called The Wicked Son (2006). In The Secret Knowledge (2011), Mamet described his shift from political liberalism to conservatism. He has also written several novels, including The Village (1994) The Old Religion (1997), and Chicago (2018).
Mamet was born on Nov. 30, 1947, in Chicago. He was married to the American actress Lindsay Crouse from 1977 to 1990.
See also Glengarry Glen Ross.
