View source for True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor

{{Short description|Instructional book on acting}}
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'''''True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor''''' by [[David Mamet]] is a 1997 instructional book on [[acting]], and the life and habits of the successful actor. In it, Mamet outlines his thoughts on acting, and gives advice for those practicing the craft and for aspiring practitioners.
In the book, Mamet derides the practice of teaching drama students the [[Stanislavski System|''system'']] of [[Constantin Stanislavski]] or ''[[method acting]]'' of [[Lee Strasberg]]. In Mamet's opinion, time spent searching for emotion memory or considering character's biographies is time wasted, and he suspects that it is an academic bluff working to keep actors uncertain. He also argues that the accomplishments of the Method "greats" ([[Marlon Brando|Brando]], [[Robert De Niro|De Niro]] et al.) were due to natural talent and fierce determination rather than a specific academic methodology.
He recommends a simple, 'honest' style of acting, where the actor's job is to learn the lines, find their mark, and speak up simply. Work on character, he asserts, is the playwright's job. Mamet advocates an acting process that posits that acting is a craft born out of the repeated application of a few straightforward, basic principles. Mamet uses the book to speak out against such practices as emotional preparation and the creation of an imaginary world in which to live while acting.
Since its publication, ''True and False'' has proved to be a controversial volume. Admirers point to its practical, straightforward advice, while detractors have charged that its approach is too reductionist, and that Mamet's beliefs contradict the existence of [[drama school]]s. Actor [[Anthony Hopkins]] praised ''True And False'' as "[demolishing] the myths and the [[psychobabble]]-gobbledygook that pass for theory with regard to acting" and described it as "a revealing book of the highest order"[https://web.archive.org/web/20061229135119/http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/sf/Pages/theatre-bks-list/acting.html].
==Bibliography==
*Mamet, David (1999). ''True and False : Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor''. Vintage {{ISBN|0-679-77264-2}}
{{David Mamet}}
[[Category:1999 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Non-fiction books about acting]]
[[Category:Books by David Mamet]]
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