Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor: Examining the Difference Between Fact and Fiction

sally price: I would like to apologise for my previous review.
This book did arrive and I’m very pleased with it.
I apologise once again.
And thank you

United Kingdom on Sep 08, 2023

SOPHIE: Buen libro!!!

Spain on Aug 23, 2023

Carolina Quito: Amazing, reading David Mamet is always a gift for the artists

France on Dec 01, 2022

M. Plishka: This book is about much more than acting. It's about the creative life, the life well lived. How to approach every moment on Life's stage. Being bold enough to share yourself, your life, and artistic creations with the gatekeepers and institutional structures of the world and the virtue of doing it.
The closing thoughts from Mamet are apropos here:
"What is true, what is false, what is, finally, important? It is not a sign of ignorance not to know the answers. But there is great merit in facing the questions."
I highly recommend this book, especially if you consider your life and what you share, art.

United States on Nov 27, 2022

Amazon Kunde: This is basically 150 pages of rant about all the "acting philosophies". Having read and being taught most of the acting techniques Mamet refers to, it felt almost infuriating to read this book. However, in a good way! Being a curious person by nature, I never fell victim to one of the almost religious standpoints about acting techniques, and Mamet reinforces just that!

Mamet puts acting in a nutshell, what it's really about. Not being overly intellectual, not trying to be smarter than the scene and not to put on a mask to hide yourself. So instead of telling you what to do, he tells you what NOT to do, eventually keeping it simple and personal, to invent nothing and deny nothing.

If you want to act truthfully, this book is for you. It might not immediately "click" in your head but the aftereffects of it will be fruitful.

Germany on Dec 08, 2021

TJ Turnell: Must have book for the field. Unbeatable price for a hardcover.

Canada on Aug 24, 2018

Terrence Walsh: Many reviewers commented on True & False as it relates to actors and their craft. Few commented as authors--playwrights. My perspective is that of an author with few published credits. Call me a newbie.

Actually I've been writing for decades in the bowels of a federal agency, anonymously. (Trust me, it was all NON-fiction.) I've had brilliant editors and duds. Even with anonymous federal prose the key to good writing is the audiences. Few documents have just one audience--look at what happens when a "private" email goes public. We must consider ALL the audiences, real or potential, present AND future, visible or not.

Now, writing as a fledgling dramatist, I find Mr. Mamet's thoughts useful. Here is someone who respects the audience AND the author. Take any dramatic work that endures through hundreds of live performances, or thousands. With a revolving door of actors that work is still going. Despite a parade of venues that show still goes on. An audience flows in and out. Just look at any Broadway road tour. There are only two common pieces--the author and the script.

While True & False may be directed to actors, a second audience must be authors. It's...

United States on Aug 11, 2016

A Director: "True and False" has been the most helpful book I've read in over 40 years of acting,directing, and studying. Period.

Take your classes, train your voice, read and practice the well-known teachers of Theater, but Read This Book. It is short, and I recommend that you actors and directors read it once through before each of your next several theatrical projects no matter what your technique is or who you studied with. I wish this text had been available when I was in college.

If read from a director's point of view, this text will help you quickly get to the heart of the matter with your actors no matter what beliefs, or lack of experience, they may bring to rehearsal.

Reviewers who have invested their time, money, and their identities in traditional methods and who 'disagree' with Mamet are, of course, going to resist some of the ideas expressed. However, his excellent advice does not invalidate the experience and useful tools you've acquired elsewhere. If you think it does, I recommend you re-read it with an open mind. Keep what works for you and disregard the rest.

Reviewing "True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor" like a book meant only...

United States on Jun 22, 2012

Frank Fetters: Over the years, I have been amazed at how successful David Mamet has been in almost everything he attempts. This is why, when I started reading this book I felt disappointed. It seemed to me that, in the first third of the book, he listed all the things you should NOT do as an actor. Several times I thought about closing the book and throwing it away. But somewhere around that point where I almost gave up on him, Mamet's genius kicked in. It may be heretical to say this, but I believe that one of the stronger aspects of Mamet's art is his ability to cut through the BS and simplify. I believe that a considerable amount of his power as a dramatist comes from this. Concerning playwriting, he said that, in the crafting of a play, you must dispense with any part of it that does not relate to the protagonist's quest.

In this book, he again makes us see the power of simplification. He says actors need to forget about the elaborate explanations coming from the "scholars" and just look at the bare bones reality of what acting is. Pretending. He says "This is what I see the actor doing: Invent nothing, deny nothing. This is the meaning of character." He also says, "The simple...

United States on Oct 26, 2011