Award-winning, cutting edge playwright David Mamet

206 - Jul 25th
Originally uploaded by 5Mae

David Alan Mamet (1947) is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.

Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984).

He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).

Mamet's style of writing dialogue, marked by a cynical, street-smart edge, precisely crafted for effect, is so distinctive that it has come to be called Mamet speak.[14] He often uses italics and quotation marks to highlight particular words and to draw attention to his characters' frequent manipulation and deceitful use of language. His characters frequently interrupt one another, their sentences trail off unfinished, and their dialogue overlaps. Mamet himself has criticized his (and other writers') tendency to write "pretty" at the expense of sound, logical plots.[15]

When asked how he developed his style for writing dialogue, Mamet said, "In my family, in the days prior to television, we liked to while away the evenings by making ourselves miserable, based solely on our ability to speak the language viciously. That's probably where my ability was honed."[16]

One classic instance of Mamet's dialogue style can be found in Glengarry Glen Ross, in which two down-on-their-luck real estate salesmen are considering breaking into their employer's office to steal a list of good sales leads. George Aaronow and Dave Moss equivocate on the meaning of "talk" and "speak," turning language and meaning to deceptive purposes:

Moss No. What do you mean? Have I talked to him about this [Pause]
Aaronow Yes. I mean are you actually talking about this, or are we just...
Moss No, we're just...
Aaronow We're just "talking" about it.
Moss We're just speaking about it. [Pause] As an idea.
Aaronow As an idea.
Moss Yes.
Aaronow We're not actually talking about it.
Moss No.
Aaronow Talking about it as a...
Moss No.
Aaronow As a robbery.
Moss As a "robbery?" No.

Mamet dedicated Glengarry Glen Ross to Harold Pinter, who was instrumental in its being first staged at the Royal National Theatre, (London) in 1983, and whom Mamet has acknowledged as an influence on its success, and on his other work.[17] "Harold Pinter, recently from his repose, indicated that any perceived relation between himself and the new-found Mamet are extremely remote - related more to emotiveness than to any philosophical or spiritual thought. Gasping for breath after a strenuous metaphysical workout, Mr. Pinter only stated 'This Mamet has split open the pig - he is ready to gourge [sic]'.

Oleanna is a two-character play by David Mamet, about the power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students, who accuses him of sexual exploitation and, by doing so, spoils his chances of being accorded tenure. The play's title, taken from a folk song, refers to a 19th-century escapist vision of utopia.[1][2] This was later adapted to a movie with same name by Mamet.

Minimalist, absurdist, avant-garde, tragicomic play, "Waiting for Godot:" Irish playwright Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett
Originally uploaded by ReefRaff

Samuel B. Beckett (1906 – 1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet who lived in France for most of his adult life, says Wikipedia. He wrote in both English and French.

His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.

Beckett is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century.[2] He was strongly influenced by Irish novelist James Joyce, author of novels Ulysses (1922) and Finnegan's Wake (1939) - notable for their stream-of-consciousness prose.

He is one of the key writers in the "Theatre of the Absurd". His work became increasingly minimalist in his later career.

In his play Waiting for Godot (1953; originally "En Attendant Godot," en Francais) a critic wrote that Beckett "has achieved a theoretical impossibility—a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. What's more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice."[20]

Broadly speaking, Godot and plays such as "Krapp's Last Tape" deal with the subject of despair and the will to survive in spite of that despair, in the face of an uncomprehending and incomprehensible world.

Beckett's work represents the most sustained attack on the realist tradition. He opened up the possibility of theatre and fiction that dispense with conventional plot, time and place in order to focus on essential components of the human condition.

In 1969 Beckett heard that he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Anticipating that her intensely private husband would be saddled with fame from that moment on, Suzanne called the award a "catastrophe".[23] In true ascetic fashion, he gave away all of the prize money.

Who won: George or Martha? Albee or Warhol?

Richard Burton
Originally uploaded by Truus, Bob & Jan too!

Choose one of these essays -

Based on 3 quotes from each of the major characters in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? write a comparison essay on George and Martha.

Based on 3 titles and quotes, compare Warhol and Albee as cultural forces. Try to control your tendency to write marvelous generalities. Base your judgments on the quotes, not upon sweeping overviews.

12 pts; due Th. Typed.
No more than one page. No less than a half page.

Quotes: Who's Afraid of Virginia WQoolf?

Edward-lo-res
Originally uploaded by mikecontiphotos

Who's Afraid . . .

- a hysterical pregnancy
- "I'll have a Bergin. Bergin and water." A grand amusement.
- Boy killed his mother and his father.
- In an asylum for 30 years. Not uttering a word.
- This isn't a novel at all. It happened to me.
- Martha: a cyclops.
- Accommodation, adjustment. Clean up the mess I've made.
- I best she has money, too. To compensate.
- He spent God's money. He saved his own.
- Plow a few pertinent wives. That's the way to power.
- There's quicksand here and you'll be dragged down before you know it.
- You tried to *communicate.* That's touching.
- Tried to publish a book and daddy wouldn't let him.
- I like to dance and you don't want me to.
- Humiliate the host.
- Hump the hostess.
- Portrait of a man drowning.
- I love familiar stories. They're the best.
- I regret everything.
- You can stand it. You married me for it.
- I tried with you, baby. I really tried.
- Snap!
- I wear the pants because someone has to.
- Total war? Total.
- I don't want any children.
- 'Tis the refuge we take when the unreality of the world sits too heavy on our tiny heads.
- To you, everybody is a flop.
- I'm the earth mother.
- I disgust me.
- The only person in my life who has made me happy. Who is good to me. Whom I revile. Who quickly learns the rules. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Who has made the hideous mistake of loving me. I must be punished for it.
- George and Martha: sad, sad, sad.
- Which is it: houseboy or stallion?
- Truth or illusion. Who knows the difference?
- We must carry on as though we did.
- Bringing up baby.
- When you get through the skin and muscles and get to the bone. There's more. The marrow.
- All truth being relative.
- A drowning man takes down those nearest.
- You can't decide these things by yourself.

Perusing several critics' insights: a raft of reviews of "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Elizabeth Taylor
Originally uploaded by Pin-up Magazines

"You are cordially invited to George and Martha's for an evening of fun and games." Thus read the ad copy for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which in 1966 went farther than any previous big-studio film in its use of profanity and sexual implication, says Rottentomatoes.com.

George (Richard Burton) is an alcoholic college professor; Martha (Oscar-winner Elizabeth Taylor) is his virago of a wife. George and Martha know just how to push each other's buttons, with George having a special advantage: he need only mention the couple's son to send Martha into orbit. This evening, the couple's guests are Nick (George Segal), a junior professor, and Honey (Sandy Dennis), Nick's child-like wife. After an evening of sadistic (and sometimes perversely hilarious) "fun and games," the truth about George and Martha's son comes to light.

Thanks to the box-office clout of stars Taylor and Burton, not to mention the titilation factor of hearing all those naughty words on the big screen, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was a hit, and it won 5 Oscars, including awards for Taylor and Dennis, though it lost Best Picture to A Man for All Seasons.

See a range of views at Rottentomatoes.com.

Virginia Woolf and "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf"

Fine arts Magnet Virginia Woolf
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882 –1941) was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories. She is regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century, says Wikipedia.

Edward Franklin Albee III (1928) is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story (1958), The Sandbox (1959), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962). His works are considered well-crafted, often unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflect a mastery and Americanization of the Theatre of the Absurd.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–63 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. Its stars won the 1963 Tony Awards for Best Actor and Actress as well. It was also selected for the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Drama by that award's drama jury. However, the award's advisory board—the trustees of Columbia University—objected to the play's then-controversial use of profanity and sexual themes, and overruled the award's advisory committee, awarding no Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1963.

In this scathing satire of modern marriage, the border between fiction and reality is continually challenged. The play ends with Martha answering the titular question of who is afraid to live their life free of illusions with, "I am, George, I am." Implicitly, exposure is something everyone fears: façade (be it social or psychological), although damaging, provides a comfort.

Quotes and vocab -
- "What a dump."
- You never DO anything."
- "Braying at everyone . . . "
- "Are you sulking?"
- "You make me puke."
- "I like your anger. That's what I like about you the most."
- "I can drink you under the g*dd*mned table."
- If you existed, I'd divorce you."
- "Unless you're carrying on like a hyena, you're not having fun."
- euphemism
- "Dashed hopes; good intentions."
- "Good, better, best, bested."
- Rearranging the chromosomes. Making everyone the same."
- "The ants will take over the world."
- "I hope that was an empty bottle. You can't afford to waste a bottle of liquor on an associate professor's salary."

Investigate the differences between the early 60's and the late 60's

Fine arts Magnet / 60's
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The 60's was a divided decade. The early 60's was an extension of the 50's.

The one notable sign of growth in the early 60's was the Civil Rights Movement. See 1963, when some 200,000 people gathered in Wash, DC, and heard Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a dream speech." Embattled members of the fight against racism struggled for every inch of the gains that could be made.

By 1967, though, a cultural upheaval was underway in the arts and mainstream society.

The poetry and sonic experimentation of the Sgt Pepper's album hit the world in 1967. It opened a door for a new era in fine arts.