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The term ‘Renaissance Man’ stands for someone who is proficient in a number of different fields
of life. David Mamet is surely suitable for the title of a contemporary renaissance man as he holds
enormous talent in different fields. Starting from the writings for the magazines or newspapers, he
made himself the creator of the numerous remarkable dramas. He was also got the nomination for his
screenplay writing. In one hand he writes children stories, writes novels, write screenplays and
essays as well. His power of writing the dialogues for drama is gigantic. The apt and subtle writing
for the drama contributed a lot to the world drama. He could have won the prize of the best
cartoonist as well. But writing dialogues for the dramas as well as the novels is the main feature
of his life. Even his stage direction was awesome and magnificent. |
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David Mamet is a not only A contemporary renaissance man, he is THE contemporary renaissance man.
He is an Oscar nominated screenwriter, he is a Pulitzer prize winning playwright, an Obie and Tony
winning playwright, his television series the Unit has won many awards.
He has been asked to write for numerous newspapers and magazines and has written hundreds of
articles. He is highly regarded as an cartoonist, but his contribution to world drama is probably
the most important aspect.
His contribution to world drama involves revolutionizing how dialogue is written. He has also
written greatly about the importance of containing exposition. Exposition which originally means
'to expose to the sun' means how information is slowly released to the audience through the course
of the play. Poor exposition involves one character stating information such as 'Hello John, are
you back from Canada and is your wife with you and is she still an albino?' Good exposition is the
slow release of information through the course of the action of the play.
The same can be said for his way of plotting his novels, plays and screenplays. To maintain a sense
of suspense, only enough information is released to keep the audience member fascinated about what
will happen next. That's the way to keep the audience interested because they don't get ahead of
the story.
His stage directions are also very sparse, he indicates nothing more than is necessary.
One of Mamet's still unsung achievements, which adds to his quality as the renaissance man is his
status of acting teacher and acting evolutionist. This contribution in the evolution of
Stanislavski's acting technique is highly misunderstood and controversial, mainly due to the
provocative style of his writing and teaching on the topic. Many people have tried to dispute his
claims but it's hard to refute the truth. His insistence that the actor refrain from 'helping' the
play along and focus on telling the story of the play. His further insistence that the lines should
mean 'anything', that an actor cannot become a character and so should not engage in any ridiculous
'becoming the character' exercises or practice. His work has changed the face of acting for many,
but many have still not heard the good word, or refuse to believe it because it undermines decades
of actor training.
As a novelist he has written The Village, a story of a village in Vermont, which may be semi
autobiographical due to the amount of time that Mamet has spent in his home in Cabot, Vermont. His
second, Wilson - A Consideration of the Sources' mocks academia. Mamet doesn't believe in academia
like grown ups don't believe in Santa Claus.
He has written books on acting, writing, the film business, about Judaism, and many other
subjects.
As a movie director, he has directed Reged (only just completed an MMA movie), he is currently
working on Joan of Bark (who knows!), the Spanish Prisoner, Spartan, Heist, State and Main, The
Winslow Boy and many more.
For television he not only conceived the Unit but directed some episodes, as well as an episode of
the Shield.
Film director, theatre director, television producer, award winner, playwright, screenwriter,
essayist, poet, novelist, teacher, acting theorist and practitioner.
To me, he is the once and only contemporary Renaissance Man. |
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The term Renaissance Man refers to someone who is adept in a number of different fields. That's not
the case with Mamet. He's adept in exactly one field : Writing. So what if he writes novels as well
as screenplays, essays as well as children's stories? These are all forms of writing and it's no
great leap from being the guy who writes dialogue to the guy who advises the actors how best to
utter it.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate Mamet. I think he's been responsible for some fine drama. But
there's no need to go overboard in praising him. Much of his trademark dialogue, which you eulogize
so much, actually comes across as unnatural and stilted. You could blame the actors or directors for
this but the same thing happens in films that he himself directs. So who else can you blame? Even
his drama doesn't have the essential variety that would make it truly great. Most of his stories are
based on the same premise : Some massive deception operation which eventually unravels. |
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26 Dec 2007 15:54
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