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True and False

David Mamet

1997127 pagesabout 2–3 hours
1997
first published
  • 1997Pantheon Books · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780679442493
  • 1999Vintage · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780679772644
  • 1998Faber and Faber · 128 pagesISBN 9780571192618

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, director, and teacher gives us a blunt, irreverent, unsparingly honest guide to acting that overturns conventional truths and tells aspiring actors what they really need to know. David Mamet leaves no acting tenet untouched: How to judge the role, approach the part, work with the playwright. How to concentrate and think about the scene. How to avoid becoming the Paint-by-Numbers Mechanical Actor, the "How'm I Doing?" Ham Actor, the over-the-top "Hollywood Huff" Actor. The right way to undertake auditions and rehearsals. The proper approach to agents, to individual jobs, and to the business in general. The question of talent.

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