David Mamet visited us this week. I don't know what I think of the man, or of a lot of what he says/I've read of his. But he's sure a master of the aphorism, and a strong believer in technique.
"Whenever we finish a play, we want people to read it and say 'I can die now.' That rarely happens."
"If you want to play in the big leagues, you can come up with excuses -- or you can come up with PLOT." If there's anything I came away with, from Mamet, it's how deeply held his belief in plot and plot structure is. The man is rabidly Aristotelian.
"You don't get paid to do the best you can."
"If you're not your own worst critic, you're in the wrong room."
"Theatre is our national dream-time."
"Technique is seeing the potential of your tools."
See? He's got the soundbite down to an art. While I wonder how many colleges he's paid to trot to and run this particular ticker-tape of quotes, I think they're also worth hearing, worth remembering.
See? I told you I wasn't sure what I thought of the man.
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