Mamet Plays: 4

David Mamet was born in Chicago in 1947. He studied at Goddard College, Vermont - later becoming Art ist in Residence - and at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York. His first and ma ny subsequent plays were first performed by the St Nicholas Theatre company, Chicago, of which he wa s a founding member and Artistic Director. In 1978 he became Associate Artistic Director of the Good man Theatre, Chicago, where American Buffalo had been first staged in 1975, subsequently winning an Obie Award and opening on Broadway in 1977 and at the National Theatre in 1978. His greatest hits, G lengarry Glen Ross and Oleanna followed in 1983 and 1993 respectively.

• Crytogram; Oleanna; the Old Neighborhood

'David Mamet has a miraculous ear for the heightened music of American dialect - it makes poetry out of common usage' New York Post; The Cryptogram: 'Here is the finest American playwright of his generation at full stretch. The writing is tight, spare, and as accurate and ruthless as a scalpel' Sunday Times; Oleanna: 'An exploration of male-female conflicts [which] cogently demonstrates that when free thought and dialogue are imperilled, nobody wins' Independent The Old Neighborhood: 'Mamet, ranked with Miller, Albee and Shepard as America's finest living playwrights, distills the raw, rank flavour of people wading down streams of consciousness... A play of riveting disquiet' Evening Standard