Staccato fireworks spill from the mouths of characters whose verbal blood sport and power dynamics, tinged always with the threat of violence, play out against a shifting landscape of secrets, lies, hard truths, and grift. The clipped, coarse, poetic patter of his work, commonly identified as Mamet-speak, crops up in his plays ( Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow) as well as his film scripts ( The Verdict, House of Games). Count the controversial David Mamet among them. Few playwrights create a language for the stage so distinctive it cannot be mistaken for anyone else’s.
