David Mamet is a leading American playwright whose spare, gritty, often scatological work reflects the rhythms of Harold Pinter and the tough attitudes of his native Chicago. Noted for his strong male characters and their macho posturings, Mamet's knack for creating low-key yet highly charged verbal confrontations in a male-dominated world has consistently made his work fodder for discussion and deconstruction. Beginning in the mid-1970s, he enjoyed a number of stage successes like "American Buffalo" (1975-76), the story of three small time con men, and "A Life in the Theatre" (1977), which
