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Scenic Archetypes - Spider and Fly - Fish out of Water - Sheer Rejection - Unexpected Confession - Archetype Suggestions  Play Structures - Antigone Structure - Dr. Faustus Structure - Mamet Structure - Tarantino Structure Reflection Games - Fountain - Calvin Klein  |
Mamet StructureDavid Mamet is a famous American playwright. His plays feature repugnant characters, male bonding, profanity, and violence. When DramaTech theatre performed Speed the Plow, Let's Try This! performed an improv show following one of the performances. To keep in the spirit of the evening, we performed this play in the style of David Mamet. The play structure combines elements of Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo; familiarity with these plays (or their movie versions) might be useful to the director.One of the more interesting things that happened in the show happened during Scene 9. At this point, the Desperado character has just talked the Don character into giving him a major role in the plan. When the Kid finds out that his part has been usurped, he gets mad. He's trying to prove himself to the Don and his big chance has just been taken from him. The Kid pleads with the Don that he can do it, but the Don has made up his mind. The Don divulges that the Kid is not up to the task. The war of words escalates. It ends with the Kid physically attacking the Don and the Don easily subdoing him. Greg Kinsey (The Don) and Steven Buckley (The Kid) played their parts perfectly. Greg played an infuriating asshole. Steven played an angry kid pushed out of control. When the scuffle began, the audience gasped. As an audience member reflected later, "I thought they were really going to fight." The conflict was that visceral. Even us fellow players felt it. It was one of the most believable acting moments I've ever seen. To Greg and Steven, it was just an act. Since this is a scenic archetype, the nature and outcome of the conflict was agreed upon ahead of time; the players felt safe and in control, even if their characters didn't act that way. Without the safety of the predetermined plot, this moment would not have been possible. Picture yourself in Greg's place if this had been a normal improv scene. Your character has just been abusing Steven's character. He looks genuinely pissed off. His face is red with anger. Then, he attacks you. If I had been in the scene, my reaction would have been: "Shit! I've pushed Steven too far; he's genuinely attacking me." I would not have stayed in character. Because Greg knew that it was all part of the plan, he was able to stay in character. It should be noted that Greg and Steven are experienced improvisers that had been playing together for a long time. I knew ahead of time that they could handle the emotion and physicality of the exchange. Characters
Scenes
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