Mamet, That Caught My Eye

I’m reading True and False, by David Mamet.

The book is interesting. It challenges some traditional ideas about what it takes to become an actor, and about what acting itself is.

Here are two things that caught my eye—things that either made me think or confirmed something I kind of knew, but Mamet articulated better:

Great drama, onstage or off, is not the performance of deeds with great emotion, but the performance of great deeds with no emotion whatsoever.

The professional performs for pay. Her job is to play the piece such that the audience may understand it—the self-respecting person keeps her thoughts and emotions to herself.